UP TO 77 percent of businesspeople expect payment discipline among their customers in Slovakia to worsen, according to a survey carried out by the Business Alliance of Slovakia (PAS) group among 159 businesses. Only 2 percent of respondents expect to see an improvement in payment discipline, while 21 percent forecast no change, the SITA newswire reported.
Entrepreneurs say that payment discipline has been deteriorating since the economic crisis began in 2008. While before the crisis businesspeople reported that 78 percent of invoices were paid within one month, that number has since fallen to 26 percent. Up to 37 percent of invoices are now paid within two months and another 26 percent within three months.
“Every tenth invoice has a maturity date longer than three months,” said PAS executive director Róbert Kičina, as quoted by SITA.
The situation could be improved by the amendment to the law on bankruptcy and restructuring which came into effect at the beginning of 2012, the surveyed businesspeople said.
