Entrepreneurs' arrears to leasing companies amounted to PLN 1 billion

Data from the National Debt Register show that there are currently 6,816 sole proprietorships financial arrears to leasing companies, and their total amount is PLN 513.5 million. In turn, among commercial law companies, there are 4,769 debtors in arrears, owing a total of PLN 543.8 million. Therefore, the total debt of Polish entrepreneurs to lessors reached PLN 1.06 billion. This means that over the last year the value of overdue receivables increased by PLN 81.6 million.

The average debt of one entity is currently PLN 91.3 thousand. PLN, which is an increase of PLN 8.9 thousand. PLN during the year. The largest total debts to leasing companies are owed by customers from Masovia (PLN 262 million), and the smallest from the Opole Voivodeship (PLN 15.7 million).

– Small and medium-sized enterprises are the foundation of the Polish economy, accounting for 47 percent of GDP, and at the same time the main recipient of leasing. This service is their preferred form of financing their business, over and above loans. Leasing companies must therefore be vigilant and carefully check who they sign a contract with. They do it on a large scale by downloading economic reports about potential customers from KRD. This allows them to minimize the risk of encountering an unreliable payer and prevents fraud – said Adam Łącki, president of the National Debt Register of the Economic Information Office.

The leasing industry has had a record year, and this year promises to be similar. Every fourth entrepreneur from the SME sector (small and medium-sized enterprises – ed.) declares that they will use leasing in 2024. However, as interest in these services increases, the risk of encountering unreliable customers also increases – wrote the authors of the report.

Based on data from the Polish Leasing Association, it was indicated that in 2023, the industry financed assets worth PLN 102.5 billion (16.3% more than a year earlier), and for almost 49%. passenger cars and delivery vans correspond to this amount. Almost half of the leasing sector's clients are micro-enterprises, i.e. enterprises with a turnover of up to PLN 5 million. Companies with a turnover from PLN 5 to 20 million constitute 20%, and those with a turnover above PLN 20 million – 29%. share in the total number of customers.