Bounced cheques worth AED26.2 billion ($7.1 billion) were reported in the UAE during the first five months of 2018, according to official figures.
The Central Bank of the UAE recorded a total of 515,000 bounced cheques, about 4.3 percent of the total value of the cleared cheques during the period.
This compared to a total of 546,000 bounced cheques worth AED28.9 billion in the same period last year.
State news agency WAM reported that the number of cheques that passed through the UAE’s cheque clearing system exceeded 12 billion during the first five months of 2018, with a total value of around AED592 billion.
The value of the cheques that were circulated from January to the end of May represented around 39.3 percent of the total value of the cheques circulated in 2017, which reached AED1.5 trillion.
The Dubai Public Prosecution activated a new penal order system late last year that allowed some offences, including bounced cheques of up to AED200,000, to be dealt with through fines rather than the court system.
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