Purchases on credit remain the dominant mode of business-to-business transactions in Greece, accounting for 57% of total sales, but most seem to have learned from past suffering and are setting stricter terms.

Result; Arrears account for 35% of the value of credit sales, which is not insignificant, but it is down 22% from last year, when it reached 45% of credit sales, the smallest percentage among the 14 Western countries. Europe.

In addition, compared to last year, the percentage of receivables that are finally written off as uncollectible has halved to 2% of total credit sales, compared to 4% in 2022.

For example, according to the Atradius Payments Barometer, 63% of total bills were paid on time compared to 51% in 2022, and 35% were overdue compared to 45%. Undoubtedly, the tightening of the terms of the deal played a decisive role. First, the reported average payment time is 36 days from invoicing, two weeks less than last year.

However, despite any improvement, Greece has the lowest percentage (55% compared to 75% in Western Europe) of businesses that claim payments are made within 30 days. 43% state that they are completed within 31-60 days, 1% – from 61 days to three months and 1% – that they are completed with a delay of more than 3 months.

More and more businesses are taking proactive measures, such as checking the creditworthiness of their customers and allocating more resources, time and staff to hunt for bad debts. However, on the other hand, arrears can have consequences for the business that is awaiting collection, such as delaying the latter in turn paying its staff and bills and suspending investments. However, 47% of businesses in Greece are now thinking much more seriously about using a credit insurance tool to reduce their risk exposure.

As part of the Atradius study, companies’ forecasts regarding their financial position are also studied. Thus, 66% expect their turnover to improve over the next twelve months, 27% expect no change, and 7% expect sales to decline. 57% expect profits to increase, and 45% believe that business relationships will also improve.

Finally, regarding the impact of inflation, 32% of businesses in Greece claim that it affects the cost of holding inventory, 27% the cost of production, 18% the cost of demand, 12% the cost of borrowing and 8% the cost of labor.