Payment behaviour improves, bad debt level falls

Payment behaviour between businesses and end customers has improved in Slovakia as revealed by a study called 'European Payment Practices' that EOS Group has carried out. The level of irrecoverable receivables, or bad debt, halved from 6 percent in 2014 to this year's 3 percent. This development is thanks to improvements in the business sector. "Companies have better liquidity and are able to pay their debts partly thanks to a drop in interest rates," said Michal Šoltés of EOS KSI Slovensko. A similar improvement was also seen in Hungary, but the opposite was true for Poland. When it comes to Europe as a whole, customers now pay their invoices on time in 78 percent of cases - up from 75 percent in 2014. However, what is troubling is that the existence of bad debt continues to be a threat to the survival of companies. One in seven businesses in Eastern Europe has admitted that its existence is in peril due to bad debt. The study was conducted in conjunction with the independent market research institute TNS Infratest. It canvassed opinions from 2,800 businesses in 13 European countries.