July 26 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Greece occupy the last places among European countries in terms of on-time payments in the business sector, the Bulgarian unit of German debt collection services provider EOS said.
Bulgarian businesses are among the most unpunctual payers in Europe, according to the 2017 edition of EOS' annual survey of European payment practices, the company said in a press release on Tuesday. A total of 3,200 companies from 16 European countries were polled in the survey conducted by independent market research institute Kantar TNS on behalf of EOS in the spring.
Some 22% of the invoices in Bulgaria are paid after the original deadline has expired, while a further 4% have to be written off as unrecoverable by the respondents, according to the survey. In the 2016 edition, these ratios were 23% and 4%, respectively.
Business entities in Bulgaria settle their overdue debt payments with a delay of 23 days after the original payment deadline, compared with eastern European average of 21 days, the company said.
About a quarter (24%) of companies in Bulgaria say they feel at risk of bankruptcy due to delayed payment of debt owed to them, compared with European and eastern European average rates of 17%.
The EOS Group survey ‘European Payment Practices’ analyses the relationships between payment behaviour, payment terms and the influence of cash flows on Europe’s economy and society.
Details follow:
|
share of invoices paid with a delay or unrecoverable |
Bulgaria |
27% |
Croatia |
27% |
Romania |
27% |
Europe average |
23% |
Source: EOS Bulgaria