Construction firms among best in paying up in Q4

[SINGAPORE] Construction firms are among the best in paying creditors here, taking just 32 days to settle a debt in the fourth quarter of 2013 - an improvement of 12 days compared to Q3.

Four years ago, they were among the slowest, taking an average of 55 days to pay a creditor, according to the Q4 2013 trade payment data released by DP SME Commercial Credit Bureau yesterday. The findings are based on payments made by more than 120,000 corporations and small and medium enterprises in Singapore each quarter.

Construction companies are now the second fastest payers in Singapore, it said. The fastest payers, chemical companies, have historically had payment cycles twice as fast as any other industry and currently take 16 days to pay a debt, three days more than it did in Q3.