SINGAPORE – The payment performance of local firms continued to improve for the fifth straight quarter, with the services sector logging the greatest drop in slow payments, said the Singapore Commercial Credit Bureau (SCCB) in a survey report on Oct 7.
Prompt payments improved by 0.09 percentage point to 41.2 per cent in the third quarter from 41.11 per cent in the second quarter. Year on year, it rose by 0.24 percentage point from 40.96 per cent.
Slow payments fell by 0.07 percentage point to 44 per cent from 44.07 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis. It slid by 0.25 percentage point from 44.25 per cent year on year.
Partial payments inched down by 0.02 percentage point on the quarter to 14.8 per cent, though it climbed by 0.01 percentage point from 14.79 per cent on the year.
SCCB chief executive Audrey Chia said: “While slow payments have hit a three-year low, the performance was uneven across the sectors, with construction and manufacturing seeing slight increases in payment delays.”
She added: “Firms should continue to monitor their cash flows and exercise greater vigilance to mitigate any potential risks of payment delinquency, given the market uncertainties.”
The credit and risk information solutions provider noted that both prompt and slow payments accounted for slightly more than two-fifths of total payment transactions.
Three out of the five industries studied recorded a drop in slow payments quarter on quarter – namely retail, services and wholesale.
Year on year, the construction, retail, services and wholesale trade sectors observed improvements in payment performance, as slow payments fell.
The services sector registered the largest improvement, with slow payments improving for the sixth consecutive quarter.
It logged a 0.23 percentage point drop in slow payments to 42.35 per cent from the previous