A total of 15.151 million cheques worth Dh755 billion ($205.5 billion) were handled by the Cheque Clearing System during the first half of the year, UAE Central Bank was quoted as saying in a media report.

Bounced cheques since January through the end of June are valued at Dh33.9 billion, accounting for 4.5 percent only of the total value of cheques during the monitored period and around 4.2 percent of the total number of cheques registered by the system through its images during the first six months of the year, reported Wam, the Emirates official news agency.

On a month-over-month basis, the cheques bounced during June stood at 4.5 per cent - Dh4.96 billion - of the total cleared cheques, which amounted to Dh111.33 billion, against 4.1 per cent - Dh5.6 billion - of the total cheques cleared in May, which totalled Dh133.45 billion.

The number of rejected cheques in June declined to 94,264 against 107797 in May.

The month of May was the most active in terms of the value of circulating cheques, hitting Dh133 billion in value, against Dh132 billion in March, Dh129.5 billion in January, Dh127.4 billion in April and Dh121.3 billion in February.