At the end of January, almost 325,000 persons and 24,300 businesses had their bank accounts frozen due to unpaid debts, said the Financial Agency on Thursday (March 1).

Compared to the same period in the year before, the number of “blocked” persons, as they are colloquially known, was down by 1.2 percent, while the number of such businesses was reduced by 17.6 percent. However, the debts of private persons grew by 1.6 billion kuna in the same period, to reach almost 43 billion kuna (5.7 billion euros). The debts of businesses were reduced to 14 billion kuna (1.87 billion euros).

The figures for businesses are largely dominated by companies who have been blocked long term, i.e. for more than a year. These make up almost 70 percent of all blocked businesses and their debts account for 82.3 percent of the total debt of companies.