Payment delays worsen for Singapore companies over past year: survey
For nearly a third of the firms experiencing defaults, the financial impact wipes out more than 10% of their total receivables
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[SINGAPORE] Almost half of businesses in the Republic are facing increasingly frequent payment delays, signalling underlying cash flow pressures even as the city-state’s broader economy expands.
Some 49 per cent of Singaporean respondents reported that payment delays have grown more frequent over the past year, more than double the 21 per cent who reported an improvement, according to the Coface Apac Payment Survey 2026.
The findings were drawn from a local sample of 152 finance professionals in Singapore, out of 2,800 respondents across 10 Asia-Pacific markets.
This deterioration in payment discipline is translating into outright losses for many suppliers.
About 57 per cent of surveyed Singapore firms experienced at least one customer default over the past 12 months, significantly outpacing the broader Apac average of 45 per cent.
For 31 per cent of the firms experiencing defaults, the financial impact wiped out more than 10 per cent of their total receivables.
The worsening credit conditions arrive against a resilient but fractured economic backdrop.
Singapore’s economy grew 5.7 per cent year on year in the second quarter of 2026, driven by an artificial intelligence-related boom in electronics and precision engineering.
However, Coface chief economist for Asia Pacific Bernard Aw noted that this “two-speed economic growth” has left other sectors behind, with industries like chemicals contracting amid feedstock disruptions and geopolitical uncertainty.
Construction sector worst hit
Payment experiences diverge sharply across these sectors.
The construction industry faced the worst liquidity bottlenecks, recording the longest average payment delay at 85 days, above the national average of 66.3 days.
Cultural business practices may be compounding the risks. Almost three-quarters of respondents said longstanding commercial relationships influence their tolerance for late payments, and 84 per cent admitted that relationship considerations can sometimes outweigh financial warning signs.
As a result, 65 per cent of Singapore businesses waited until payment delays stretch beyond 60 days before tightening credit controls, compared with just 47 per cent across Apac.
The business community remains pessimistic. Over half of respondents expect payment conditions to deteriorate further in the coming year, with retail and chemicals firms registering the most negative outlooks.
The survey results come after liquidity has also become one of the largest hurdles left in cross-border payments, with tokenisation touted as a more efficient way for banks to fund transactions. This comes as the industry moves towards round-the-clock settlement.
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