The total value of cleared checks by banks increased 39 percent year-on-year until March to $17 billion, mainly driven by the increase in foreign currency dominated cleared checks.

A total of $13.7 billion of foreign currency dominated checks were cleared in the first quarter of 2010, an increase by 43 percent compared to the corresponding period a year earlier.

Total cleared checks in the local currency increased nearly 23 percent to $3 billion for the quarter.

The rise in foreign currency cleared checks at a higher rate than the rise in cleared checks in the local currency has led to an increase in the dollarization rate to 80.8 percent in the first quarter of 2010 compared to 78.4 percent in the same period of last year.