Up to two-thirds of indebted companies listed in the National Debt Register are sole proprietors. They owe creditors PLN 4.92 billion, PLN 442 million more than at the end of last year and PLN 604 million more than a year ago. They themselves have to recover PLN 900 million from customers, most of which is owed by large companies.
According to data from ZUS (active health insurance payers), sole proprietors form the largest group of entities operating in the market. At the end of the first quarter of 2023, over 2.46 million of these entities were registered in the ZUS. Over 80,000 applications to establish a sole proprietorship were submitted to the Central Registry and Information on Economic Activity in the first quarter of 2023, an increase of over 6% year on year.
In the National Debt Register database, over 163,000 micro-enterprises are listed that owe their contractors PLN 4.92 billion. The average debt of each of them reaches PLN 32.2 thousand, compared to PLN 27 thousand a year earlier. The worst situation occurred during the initial phase of the pandemic in 2020, when sole proprietors had to repay as much as PLN 6.5 billion, and 194.6 thousand of them were listed in the National Debt Register.
Microenterprises in the retail industry are in the worst position, owing nearly PLN 1.3 billion, followed by transport ones with debts of PLN 798 million and construction ones with PLN 775 million of debts. The most indebted micro-firms are located in the Mazowieckie province with unpaid obligations amounting to PLN 867 million.
The list of creditors to whom microenterprises owe the most money is similar to the case of large companies. Their biggest debt, PLN 2.27 billion, is owed to securitization funds. The second-largest creditor is the financial sector (banks, leasing companies), to which sole proprietors have to repay PLN 1.1 billion.
A study shows that one-fifth of microenterprises, small and medium-sized companies pay their invoices late because they do not receive money from their contractors. The businesses wait on average 22 days from the invoice due date to be paid.
As creditors, sole proprietors have to recover as much as PLN 900 million from their clients. Commercial law companies, typically medium and large firms, owe them the most at PLN 385 million. Interestingly, sole proprietors owe each other a significant sum of up to PLN 317 million. Consumers are also in debt to them in the amount of PLN 158 million.
