(Finance) – The last quarter of 2023 ends with improved indices compared to those of the end of 2019 (pre-pandemic values) in terms of punctuality of payments by Italian companies. In fact, regular payments recorded an increase of 18.4% and late payments decreased by 10% within 30 days and by 8.6% beyond 30 days. This is what emerges from the Payment study carried out by CRIBIS, company of the CRIF group specialized in business information, updated to 31 December 2023.
THE Q4 2023 values are substantially in line with those of the previous quarter: no change in the regular payments (41.1%) and a lslight decrease in delays within 30 days (49.3% versus 49.5%) in favor of those beyond 30 days, which rise from 9.4% to 9.6%. In general, the quarterly snapshots taken by Cribis during 2023 show, in the face of a stabilization in the number of punctual payments, a slight growth in delays beyond 30 days from the deadline, which rose from 9.1% at the end of 2022 ( Q4 2022) to 9.6% at the end of 2023, an improvement compared to the end of 2019 (10.5%).
The micro businesses confirm a positive performance in the payment on maturity class with a concentration of 43%, but also record the highest level of serious delays (10.5%).
The Payments Studio highlights significant differences by geographical areas (the regions of Northern Italy are more punctual), product sectors (restaurants, food industries and large-scale retail trade suffer) and company size (micro-enterprises show better performance in terms of regular payments, while larger ones are less prone to serious delays). The more virtuous regions are found in the North: Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto are the regions with the highest share of regular payments (above 47%), while Sicily and Calabria they occupy the last position in the regional ranking of punctual payment with a share of 23.1% for the first and 25% for the second.
“2023 was characterized by variables that had a negative impact on the Italian economy, including international conflicts, inflation and interest rate trends. Despite these adverse conditions, – he states Marco Preti, CEO of Cribis – the data on payments show a stable situation compared to the previous year and improving since 2019. We hope that this trend will continue in 2024 in order to contribute to increasing the competitiveness of our companies and our country”.