Nearly 94% of companies in Poland are struggling with overdue payments, according to a study conducted cyclically for BIG InfoMonitor. At the end of April, the arrears of companies from various industries exceeded a record PLN 44 billion.
The share of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises for which invoices are 30 or 60 days overdue is consistently high. Although the SME scanner shows that there was some improvement in the second quarter of this year, this is an annual trend that does not significantly change the situation. When looking at SMEs as a whole, 46.4% are waiting more than 30 days to pay outstanding invoices, and 35% are already waiting up to 60 days, according BIG InfoMonitor.
The situation is worst in the transport industry, where more than half of the companies recorded delays of 30 days and 48% of those of 60 days or more. Long-term delays in paying contractors are driving the transport industry into debt. The unpaid debt of companies in this sector visible in the BIG InfoMonitor Debtor Register and the BIK database already amounts to PLN 3.2 billion and is the share of more than 37,000 entities. This means that almost every 10th transport company is already in serious financial trouble, it was reported.
Trade is in a slightly better situation. As the ‘SME Scanner’ shows, up to 53% of traders have waited more than a month past due for payment in the last three months, and 2 in 5 have had to be patient for more than two months. And in this case, the domino effect is at work, as 5% of traders (active, suspended and closed) are already in the BIG InfoMonitor Debtor Register and the BIK database, and their overdue liabilities reached PLN 8.9 billion in April. At a similar level as in the previous quarter are the congestion reported by companies in industry and services.
However, the situation in the construction industry has improved the most. One third of construction companies have encountered delays of up to 30 days in recent months. Even less, as one in five companies in this industry had to wait more than two months for their money, it was also reported.
Regardless of the industry, small companies (employing between 10 and 49 people) are in the most difficult situation. It is against them that contractors most often commit delays. More than half of small companies reported invoices overdue by 30 days in recent months, and just under 45 per cent – by 60 days. – by 60 days. The clients of micro businesses (with up to 9 employees) feel the most pressure, but even so, 40 per cent of them do not pay their obligations for more than 30 days past due, and 1/4 even for more than 60 days, it was announced.
Liabilities that are not paid on time are leading to a growing cash crunch across the economy. From April 2023 to April 2024, there were nearly 8.5 thousand over-indebted companies in Poland. There are now almost 320,000 of them, and the amount of their arrears (due to credit and non-credit obligations, delayed for more than 30 days and for at least PLN 500) exceeded PLN 44 billion at the end of April 2024, an increase of PLN 3.1 billion (8%) compared to the same period last year.
‘SME Scanner’ survey of micro, small and medium-sized companies, conducted by the Keralla Research Institute for B2B Research and Solutions, on a sample of 500 companies selling with deferred payment, using a telephone interview technique, April 2024.
Source: BIG InfoMonitor and ISBnews
