Bills of exchange are back in fashion, in 2022 over 200 thousand. Leading Lombardy and Sicily

In 2022 bills of exchange came back into fashion, thanks to the expensive bills and the aftermath of the crisis caused by the pandemic. There were 221,000 deducted last year, over 3,000 more than in 2021, although 124,000 less than in 2019. During the pandemic, the credit moratoriums had given families and businesses some breathing room in repaying loans. Last year, however, the Chambers of Commerce recorded a moderate increase in the traditional form of financing bills. As shown by the data of Unioncamere, the body chaired by Andrea Prete, and InfoCamere, there are eleven regions that record an increase in bills of exchange between 2022 and 2021, starting with Lombardy and Sicily, where the increases are four-digit (+5.339 and +2.018 respectively).

These two areas clearly detach the third region, Lazio, which recorded an increase of 807 bills of exchange, preceding Liguria (459), Veneto (278) and Puglia (158).

On the opposite side Calabria and Sardinia, where bills of exchange were reduced respectively by -2,750 and -1,125 units last year. Precisely following the significant increase in bills of exchange in Lombardy between 2019 and 2022 (+8,346), this region jumped from third to first place in the ranking by number of “promissory notes”, recording almost 57 thousand bills drawn at the end of 2022. Campania, on the other hand, first in the rankings in 2019, drops to second step thanks to a substantial reduction in bills of exchange over the three years (just over 33 thousand at the end of 2022, almost 30 thousand less than in 2019).