Over 5% default on repayments

PALMA
THE Balearics is one of the top three regions in Spain for defaults on repayments for goods and articles.
According to the National Institute of Statistics, the Balearics is third in the list of regions with the greatest percentage of defaults on repayments, with 5.1 percent. Only the Canaries (7.4 percent) and Andalusia (5.8 percent) registered higher percentages.

In the whole of Spain, defaults rose 17.1 percent in the month of February compared to the same period last year. The total value of these defaults was 1'429 million euros.

This represents a 77.3 percent increase in the value of goods compared to the same period last year.
In February, 467'200 goods were returned with an average cost each of 3'058 euros, up 51.4 percent on the same period last year. These goods represent 4.2 percent of those sold during February.

Compared to January of this year, this number of goods defaulted on is down 9.4 percent.
The total value of goods sold during the month of February was 33'892 million euros, 5.47 percent more than the same period in 2007.
The average value of these goods was 3'035 euros, up 6.04 percent.
In the financial sector, the banks saw the largest amount of defaults on loans, 305'536 euros, up 6.9 percent, followed by the building societies, 139'327 euros, up 40.6 percent, and the credit unions, 22'337, up 6.04 percent.

The average default in the building societies was 3'919 euros.
In the credit unions, the average was 3'897 euros. In the banks, it was 2'604 euros.
Catalonia topped the list of regions with the greatest number of defaulters, 147'419, followed by Madrid, with 81'003, Valencia, with 63'119, and Andalusia, with 49'598.

In Catalonia these defaulted payments were worth 289.9 million euros, followed by Andalusia with 270.3 million euros, Madrid with 236 million euros and Valencia with 184.8 million euros.