Late payment of bills becomes growing vulnerability for economy (analysts)

The effects of inflation, the decrease in sales, logistical or financing problems have significantly increased the level of payment delays, a fact that risks leading to extensive financial problems in the economic chains, warn the experts from Sierra Quadrant, in an analysis of the vulnerabilities of the economic chains, against AGERPRES.

"The Romanian economy seems to be hanging by a thread, with increasingly vulnerable businesses, as evidenced by this year's negative results. Against the background of the increasing financial blockade, the lack of financing and especially the decrease in sales, most of the SMEs in Romania are plunging deeper and deeper into financial difficulties," the authors of the analysis claim in a press release.

According to them, a relevant indicator regarding the growing problems in the economy is the increase in the incidence of payment delays, which risks becoming a growing vulnerability for the economy.

A recent study, carried out by Atradius, cited in the press release, shows that 49% of Romanian companies are affected by late payments in B2B relationships, and their percentage increases as the economic problems worsen. The construction and pharmaceutical industries are in the foreground, along with the trade and agriculture sectors.

"Payments are becoming more difficult in the economy, as supplier credit reduces its footprint, and sales are decreasing in many branches of the economy. It is the result of inflation, the decrease in sales due to the decrease in purchasing power and, last but not least, the emphasis of the phenomenon of disintermediation, against the backdrop of fears regarding the dynamics of taxation," explained Ovidiu Neacsu, partner Sierra Quadrant coordinator, quoted in the release.

A third of Romanian companies respond to late payments by postponing investment plans, while 30% delay payments to suppliers, say experts.

According to the cited source, the problem of increasing payment delays was also signaled by the National Bank, which, in its latest study on financial discipline, shows that "at the national level, low payment discipline in the economy is one of the main structural vulnerabilities, by nature to weaken the resilience of companies in periods of stress".

The impact of late payments is major, especially in the case of SMEs that generally have less commercial negotiation power in the supplier (creditor) position. The companies' evaluations regarding payment discipline indicate that almost half of the domestic companies have encountered problems due to late payments from trading partners in the last 12 months. Among these, more than half of the cases (around 30 percent) had to do only occasionally with delayed payment behavior on the part of public or private partners, analysts estimate.

Contrary to expectations, the share of companies that indicated that they faced delayed payments from partners is higher in the case of corporations than in the case of SMEs (by 5 percentage points, up to 55 percent).

According to the Sierra Quadrant analysis, a big problem of the economy is the very high share of commercial credit financing, where we are in first place in the EU in this regard. Commercial loans represent approximately a quarter of the liabilities of companies in Romania.