Regionally, the payment behavior in North Rhine-Westphalia was the worst with 12.3 days late.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The payment behavior of German companies deteriorated significantly in the summer quarter. Despite Corona, companies have still paid their bills reliably and relatively punctually in the past two years, the credit agency Creditreform said on Monday. “But now we see that the overlapping crises have left deep marks on companies,” said Creditreform chief economist Patrik-Ludwig Hantzsch.
“We are assuming that the liquidity of small and medium-sized companies in particular will be gradually consumed.” While the figures for insolvencies, over-indebtedness and on the labor market are still positive, payment behavior is developing increasingly negatively. Cross-industry delinquency was 10.5 days between July and September, up from 9.4 days in the third quarter of 2021.
There are big differences across the industry. “Companies in the construction industry pay by far the worst.” Their payment delays increased by 0.4 days to 14 days. Construction is currently suffering from delivery bottlenecks and therefore also from rising material prices and cancellations of orders.
In the case of consumer goods (7.5 days) and retail (7.7 days), invoices were settled with significantly fewer late payments. The metal/electrical sector was also better than average at 9.4 days – but the industry deteriorated by 1.4 days within a year.
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There is also a regional divide. According to Creditreform, companies in Bavaria (8.9 days), Baden-Württemberg (9.2 days) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (10 days) paid the fastest times across all sectors in the third quarter. Payment behavior was worst in North Rhine-Westphalia with a delay of 12.3 days, as well as in Berlin (11.7 days) and Schleswig-Holstein (11.2 days).
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