Nearly 86% of the value of invoices issued by companies in Poland is paid on time. The best payment discipline is recorded among companies from the packaging sector, while the weakest performance is seen in the production and sale of car tyres.
An analysis by Dun & Bradstreet Poland covering more than 2.7 million payments worth over PLN 176 billion shows that almost 86% of liabilities were settled within the deadline agreed by the parties. Compared with the previous two years, the situation has not changed significantly. However, one worrying signal remains: nearly 30% of overdue payments are delayed by at least 90 days.
“In comparison with the last two years, the situation has not changed fundamentally. What is worrying is that almost 30% of payment arrears are overdue by at least 90 days,” said Tomasz Starzyk from Dun & Bradstreet Poland.
In percentage terms, overdue payments account for the largest share in the broadly understood sector of car tyre production and sales, where they reach 40.8%. The plastics sector follows with 23.2%. The situation is only slightly better in construction, where overdue payments account for 20%, and in freight forwarding, where the figure stands at 17.3%.
The best payers are packaging companies, where 95.3% of payments are made on time. They are followed by producers and sellers of consumer electronics and household appliances, with 92.5% of payments settled on schedule, and the paper sector, where 87.5% of payments are made within the agreed deadline.
Despite positive market signals and a visible improvement in the payment morality of Polish companies, so-called bad debts remain a significant problem. These include receivables delayed by 90 or even 120 days. This is particularly concerning because a large share of such overdue receivables proves difficult or impossible to recover in practice.
The problem of payments delayed by more than four months is most severe in the production and sale of car tyres, where it affects 52.8% of overdue payments. The sanitary sector performs only slightly better, with payments overdue by more than 120 days accounting for 45%. In the paper sector, the figure is close to 40%.
The improvement in payment discipline among Polish companies is linked to the overall improvement in their financial condition. However, ageing analysis of receivables monitored on the market shows that around 15% of invoices are still not paid on time. In absolute terms, corporate debt amounts to several billion zlotys annually, directly affecting the financial liquidity of thousands of companies.
For many businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, even relatively minor payment delays can lead not only to a loss of profitability, but also trigger an entire chain of payment bottlenecks and delays in their own liabilities. In practice, late payments often become the cheapest source of current financing for companies, effectively acting as zero-interest credit. At the operational level, unreliable payers shift their own costs onto subcontractors and business partners.
Payment bottlenecks remain a serious barrier to the development of Polish companies. Regardless of sector or size, businesses should include in their strategy a plan to counter unfair practices and payment gridlocks. This includes regularly checking and monitoring contractors.
Invoices not paid on time may translate into a loss of financial liquidity, and in extreme cases can lead to bankruptcy.
