Construction sector payment performance worsens in Q1

Building construction firms registered the highest proportion of payment delays.

Although Singapore firms saw a slight improvement in payment performance in the first quarter of the year, that of the construction sector continues to worsen, according to the latest report by the Singapore Commercial Credit Bureau (SCCB).

As with the previous quarter, the construction sector registered a new record high in more than 5 years since 4Q11 when slow payments accounted for nearly three-fifths of payment delays at 58.30%. The sector’s payment delays in the past quarter jumped to 55.22%.

SCCB said the delays were mainly due to the visible deterioration of payment performance by the building construction sub-sector and special trade contractors. Firms involved in building construction registered the highest proportion of payment delays, up from 49.14% in 4Q16 to 57.22% in 1Q17.

Overall, slow payments slid slightly to 42.81% in 1Q17. Despite this, prompt payments also dipped to 45.44% in the said quarter.

Meanwhile, partial payments have accounted for more than one-tenth of total payment transactions, inching upwards to 11.75% in 1Q17.

Check out the performance of the other sectors in the table below: