Check transactions rose sharply on a monthly basis in the second calendar month to May 21 after posting steep decline a month earlier.
The number of issued checks jumped 20.9% to reach 6.3 million in the month, according to data released by the Central Bank of Iran.
Transacted checks were up 49.2% in value at 2,742 trillion rials ($8.8 billion). The sharp rise is said to be due to businesses returning to normal in the said month from the previous month when markets were closed for two weeks due to the Persian New Year holidays.
Compared to the corresponding month of last year, the number of drawn checks fell 16.1% but climbed 41.2% in value. The high and rising inflation has also led to the sharp rise in the value of annual check transactions despite the decline in volume.
The overall goods and services CPI in the 12-month period ending May 21 increased by 38.7% on the corresponding period a year ago.
More than 5.7 million of all drawn checks were processed amounting to 2,401 trillion rials ($7.7b). Two million checks worth 1,366 trillion rials ($4.4b) changed hands in Tehran Province during the month.
Tehran had the highest share of exchanged checks in volume and value -- 31.2% and 49.8% of all drawn checks.
Bad Check Down 65%
An estimated 341 trillion rials ($1.1b) checks were rejected during the month -- 65.3% higher on a monthly basis.
The number of bad checks was near 613,000, 29.9% higher in one month.
Bounced checks accounted for 9.8% and 12.4% of the total volume and value of drawn checks, respectively.
Bad checks in Tehran Province accounted for 9% and 10.8% of all checks drawn in terms of volume and value, respectively.
During the period under review, the number of checks returned in the capital reached 176,000 worth 147 trillion rials ($474 million).
Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad Province ranked first as the region with the highest ratio of bounced checks to transacted checks at 15.6%. North Khorasan Province was next with 15.2%.
Kurdistan Province was third with the highest ratio of bad checks to transacted checks at 12.9%. Provinces with the lowest ratio were Gilan with 7.2%, Khuzestan 8.6% share and Alborz 8.8%.
Insufficient funds in the accounts of issuers were the main reason why the checks were rejected.
Banks processed more than 407,000 cashier checks worth 2,460 trillion rials ($7.9b), indicating 62.9% increase in volume and 75.3% monthly rise in value. More than 140,000 such checks worth 1,858 trillion rials were cashed in Tehran.
