Business, Estonia, Financial Services, Markets and Companies

The estimated damage to companies forms 445 million euros or nearly 7 billion kroons a year.

Executives of different enterprises state that lately even the Finnish businesses have been delaying paying bills, although thus far they have been very correct in doing so.

The payment discipline in Estonia and in Latvia has deteriorated significantly, forcing enterprises to change their credit policy much stricter. 14% of Estonian businesses believe that in the next 12 months the business risks will decrease.

Intrum Justitia CEO Ivar Tammemäe said that Estonia is falling into the same group as South European companies in regard to payment delays.

“The payment delay period in Europe is an average of 18 days as compared to 19 days in 2009. Thus it can be seen that after the crisis, companies have pulled themselves together and strengthened their credit management and administration processes,” said Tammemäe.

“Estonia however has in comparison to other European states fallen to the same group with South European states like Cyprus, Spain, Portugal and Italy,” he added.