An estimated 227 trillion rials ($908 million) worth of checks bounced in the month to Feb 18 -- up 8.8% compared with the earlier month.
The Central Bank of Iran said the number of bad checks reached 697,000 indicating 2.7% rise in one month.
Compared to the corresponding period last year, bad checks dropped 3.1% in number while almost doubling (95.2%) in value. The steep increase in value of transacted checks is normally linked to a price inflation.
Bounced checks accounted for 8.1% and 11.2% of the total volume and value of the drawn checks in the month.
Bad checks in Tehran Province accounted for 7% and 9.2% of all issued checks in the capital in terms of volume and value, respectively.
During the period under review the number of checks returned in the capital reached 185,000 while their value was 90 trillion rials ($360 million).
Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad Province ranked first as the region with the highest ratio of bounced checks to transacted checks at 17.3%. Lorestan was next at 12.8% and North Khorasan 12.3%.
Likewise, provinces with the lowest ratio were Gilan with 5.8%, Alborz 7.2% and Yazd 7.5%.
Drawn Checks
During the period the number of issued checks rose 2% to reach 8.6 million. In terms of value the transacted checks rose a 7.9% to stand at 2,034 trillion rials ($8.13 billion).
More than 2.6 million checks worth 978 trillion rials ($3.91b) changed hands in Tehran Province during the month. Tehran had the highest share of exchanged checks in volume and value accounting for 30.7% and 48.1% of all drawn checks.
Isfahan Province was next both in volume and value, representing 10.9% of all drawn checks and 7.3% of the value of issued checks.
Banks processed more than 697,000 cashier checks worth 1,357 trillion rials ($5.42b) indicating 11.4% and 25.4% rise in volume and value, respectively.
A cashier's check is a check guaranteed by a bank, drawn on the bank's own funds and signed by a cashier. Such checks are treated as guaranteed funds because the bank, rather than the purchaser, is responsible for paying the amount.
The CBI announced a new check law on March 25 to reduce rubber checks by improving transparency in check transactions.
