The outstanding payments of the companies to suppliers in Romania amounted to about 56 billion lei in 2016, compared to 56.5 billion lei in 2015 and over 57 billion lei in 2013 and 2014, according to a KeysFin analysis.
The arrears of the 76,893 companies (12% of the total number of companies in Romania) represent 33% of the total turnover in the Romanian economy and maintain at a high level „despite the tax easing measures„.
The wholly Romanian-owned companies cover almost half of the total amount (25.6 billion lei), the foreign-owned companies register outstanding payments of 11.95 billion lei and the joint companies 7.95 billion lei. State-owned companies have 7.33 billion lei left to pay to their suppliers, according to the KeysFin data.
The KeysFin analysts attribute these debts to a „behaviour rooted in the economy”, which is „a type of financial survival caused by the challenges of a fluctuating economic system, deprived of financing„.
Romanian companies have a “low capital, highly sensitive to the evolution of the tax framework „and, especially in the case of SMEs, „to delay one or more payments to suppliers is related to the financial safety needed for maintaining the activity. Many companies are living on the financial turnover, depend on every penny they have to receive or pay. The more delayed the payments, the better they can manage to secure the necessary funds to continue their activity. Unfortunately, we reached extreme situations, when payments are made after 6-8 months or even more,” says the KeysFin analysis.
If including the debts to the state budget, the total arrears of less than one year amounted to 268.8 billion lei in 2015.
Outstanding payments and debts by type of ownership
Type of ownership
- Wholly Romanian private ownership
- Wholly foreign private ownership
- Joint Romanian-foreign ownership
- State ownership
- State-owned (<50%) + Romanian and foreign private capital
- State-owned (>= 50%) + Romanian private capital
- State capital (<50%) + Romanian private capital
- State capital (>= 50%) + Romanian and foreign private capital
Most companies having outstanding payments are from the retail sector (27,009), followed by the manufacturing sector (9,134) and construction (8,443), the companies from the professional, scientific and technical activity field (6,446 companies), transportation and storage (4,998) and hotels and restaurants (4,238 companies).
The companies with the highest outstanding payments to suppliers are concentrated in Bucharest and Ilfov (24.1 billion lei), in the Southeast Region (8.6 billion lei), South-Muntenia (4.7 billion lei), West Region (4.38 billion lei) and Central Region (4.1 billion lei). On the opposite side are the companies from the North-West Region (3.85 billion lei), North-East Region (3.72 billion lei) and South-West Oltenia Region (2.87 billion lei).
