Creditors of companies undergoing bankruptcy or restructuring proceedings in Poland are already waiting for more than PLN 200 million in unpaid debts. This is the total value of overdue liabilities recorded in the National Debt Register, or KRD, against companies that declared bankruptcy or entered restructuring proceedings in the first half of 2026. The amount is more than one-quarter higher than a year earlier.
In the first half of 2026, courts declared 206 company bankruptcies, compared with 207 in the corresponding period of the previous year. This virtually unchanged figure may suggest that the situation has stabilised, but KRD data present a different picture.
The registered debt of companies that went bankrupt this year was 40% higher than in the first half of 2025, rising from more than PLN 31 million to PLN 44 million.
Even this does not reflect the full scale of the problem. Some owners of sole proprietorships choose personal bankruptcy rather than business bankruptcy, meaning they are not included in these statistics.
Restructuring proceedings place an even greater burden on creditors. A total of 1,146 companies undergoing restructuring were listed in the KRD, almost the same number as a year earlier, when there were 1,119. Their overdue liabilities reached PLN 157 million.
As in the case of bankruptcies, the number of proceedings remained almost unchanged, although debt in this segment was approximately 24% higher than a year earlier.
This means that the total amount owed to creditors increased by more than one-quarter, even though the number of corporate insolvencies remained broadly stable.
According to Statistics Poland, the country’s GDP grew by 3.5% in real terms year on year in the first quarter of 2026. Against this backdrop, such a sharp increase in the debt of insolvent companies may appear surprising.
However, KRD data show that today’s bankruptcies and restructuring proceedings are the result of problems that accumulated over several years, largely during a period of significantly weaker economic conditions than those prevailing today.
“The announcement of restructuring or bankruptcy is usually the final stage of a problem, not its beginning. Our latest study, The Typical Debtor, shows that 85% of business owners already regard the first payment delays as a warning of further difficulties,” said Jakub Kostecki, Vice-President of debt collection company Kaczmarski Inkasso.
“Despite this, many businesses continue to hope that the customer will eventually settle the outstanding payment voluntarily. Every additional month of delay reduces the chances of reaching an agreement, securing the debt and recovering the money.”
“Businesses should therefore respond as soon as payment delays begin to recur. They should call the customer and establish the reason for the arrears. They should then consistently follow the next steps: issue a formal demand for payment, warn that the case will be referred for debt collection and, if the money does not reach their account, actually refer it,” he added.
The Typical Debtor study confirms that companies are capable of taking more cautious measures. Half of them require an advance payment from customers considered risky, 40% demand full prepayment and one in three shortens the payment deadline.
Such safeguards are important, but they cannot replace the consistent monitoring of a business partner’s financial condition throughout the relationship.
Personal Bankruptcy Distorts the Corporate Insolvency Picture
An increasing proportion of the financial problems affecting the smallest businesses is no longer reflected in corporate bankruptcy statistics, as their owners instead file for personal bankruptcy.
In the first half of 2026, 1,424 owners of sole proprietorships chose this route rather than business bankruptcy. A year earlier, the figure was 982, representing an increase of almost 45%.
The official number of company bankruptcies therefore does not show the full scale of the problem among people running sole proprietorships.
“For many of the smallest business owners, personal bankruptcy is now more accessible than business bankruptcy. A person operating a sole proprietorship can close the business and file for personal bankruptcy the following day,” said Sandra Czerwińska, an expert at Rzetelna Firma.
“It is a simpler and cheaper option. The court fee is PLN 30, while bankruptcy proceedings for a business involve significantly higher costs. In practice, this means that some liabilities incurred while running a business may be settled outside the corporate bankruptcy statistics,” she explained.
Small Businesses Restructure More Often, but Larger Companies Leave Bigger Debts
The problems experienced by the smallest businesses and larger organisations are currently reflected in different ways. Incorporated companies account for the greatest share of debt in bankruptcy proceedings, while microbusinesses dominate restructuring cases in numerical terms.
Among bankrupt companies listed in the KRD, incorporated companies accounted for PLN 39 million of the total PLN 44 million in overdue liabilities, representing almost 90% of the entire amount. Sole proprietorships owed PLN 4.6 million.
The smallest businesses constituted the majority of debtors undergoing restructuring and listed in the KRD. They accounted for 709 of the 1,146 companies, or approximately 62%, and were responsible for more than PLN 67 million in overdue debt.
However, the larger financial burden still fell on companies and institutions, whose total debt reached PLN 90 million.
Transport Leads Bankruptcy Debt, Construction Dominates Restructuring
Bankruptcies and restructuring proceedings have different sectoral leaders in terms of debt. Transport is the most costly industry for creditors in bankruptcy cases, while construction leads among companies undergoing restructuring.
Among companies that declared bankruptcy and were listed in the KRD, transport businesses had the highest level of debt. Their overdue liabilities amounted to almost PLN 17 million, the vast majority of which was attributable to road freight transport.
In restructuring proceedings, the construction sector was the clear leader, with debts reaching PLN 43 million. This was almost equal to the total overdue debt of all bankrupt companies listed in the KRD.
Financial Problems Were Visible Much Earlier
KRD data show that the financial difficulties of many companies were visible long before they formally entered bankruptcy or restructuring proceedings.
Among companies that declared bankruptcy, 17% were already listed in the KRD three years earlier, 25% appeared in the register two years earlier and 37% were listed one year before their bankruptcy.
On the date bankruptcy was declared, 132 of the 206 failed companies, or 64%, were already present in the register.
A similar pattern can be seen among businesses undergoing restructuring. Three years before proceedings began, 14% of these companies were listed in the KRD. The proportion rose to 19% two years before restructuring and 29% one year beforehand.
On the date restructuring proceedings began, 1,146 of the 2,565 companies concerned, or approximately 45%, were listed in the register.
For many creditors, the declaration of bankruptcy or commencement of restructuring proceedings is therefore not the first indication of a problem, but the final stage of a process that could have been observed much earlier.
This provides an important warning: payment difficulties rarely arise without notice, and many warning signs can be identified well in advance, before the case reaches the courts.
Bankruptcy and Restructuring Have Different Regional Risk Maps
Regional data show that bankruptcies and restructuring proceedings have different geographical patterns of risk.
Among companies that declared bankruptcy and were listed in the KRD, those based in the Wielkopolskie region had the highest outstanding liabilities, at PLN 13.4 million.
The Mazowieckie region ranked second, with PLN 9.4 million in debt. It was followed by Warmińsko-Mazurskie and Dolnośląskie, where overdue liabilities exceeded PLN 3 million in each region.
Mazowieckie was the clear leader in restructuring cases. Debtors listed in the KRD in the region had PLN 42.8 million in overdue liabilities.
High levels of debt were also recorded in Kujawsko-Pomorskie, at PLN 20.7 million, Pomorskie, at PLN 12.2 million, and Wielkopolskie, at PLN 11.1 million.
In both Łódzkie and Małopolskie, restructuring debt exceeded PLN 10 million.
Source: Managerplus.pl
