More than a quarter of all invoices issued in Romania are paid late

The study into European payment patterns, carried out by TNS for debt recovery specialist EOS, shows that 23% of invoices are paid late, while 4% are never paid at all. The rate is slightly above the average for the region (25%). The best performers in Emerging Europe are Poland and the Czech Republic, where 80% of payments are made on time.

However, Romania has made giant strides in reducing the amount of time it takes for payments to be made. On average, B2B payments are made after 39 days in Romania (down from 41 days in 2016), after 37 days in the Czech Republic and 36 days in Poland.

Most worrying for the Romanian companies is the number of invoices which are never paid, 4%, the highest in the region. Large numbers of companies told the report’s authors that problems can begin when even just one invoice goes unpaid. Cashflow and profits are affected, with 17% of companies claiming that non-payment could even impact on their ability to stay in business.

As many as 80% of Romanian companies claim that late payment of their invoices forces them to delay payments themselves. More than two-thirds of Romanian companies rely on lines of credit from suppliers, far higher than any neighboring country.

While the number of companies using debt recovery services has fallen across Europe (down from 44 to 41%), in Romania it has risen over the past twelve months from 40 to 46%.