Payment discipline among Singapore businesses is showing signs of deterioration, with substantially more firms reporting an increase in both the frequency and severity of payment delays than an improvement over the past year, according to Coface's APAC Payment Survey 2026.
Nearly half (49%) of Singapore respondents said payment delays had become more frequent, compared with 21% that reported a decrease. A further 42% experienced an increase in the severity of delays, while 23% saw an improvement.
This deterioration comes despite Singapore’s average payment terms and payment delays remaining slightly shorter than the regional averages. Singapore firms offered customers an average of 69 days to pay, compared with 70.2 days across APAC, while the average payment delay stood at 66.3 days, against 68.1 days regionally. Nevertheless, the incidence of payment delays remains widespread, with 55% of Singapore organisations reporting experiencing occasional or frequent late payments from customers during the past 12 months, similar to the APAC average of 57%.
Small businesses also offered considerably shorter payment terms than larger organisations. Small firms provided an average of 38 days, while large businesses typically extended terms of between two and three months. This may reflect the more limited capacity of smaller companies to absorb lengthy waits for payment.
The findings come against a resilient but uneven economic backdrop. Singapore’s economy grew by 5.7% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026, supported by strong expansion in electronics and precision engineering. However, other industries, including chemicals, contracted amid feedstock disruptions and continued geopolitical uncertainty.
Coface Chief Economist for Asia Pacific Bernard Aw said that Singapore’s growth outlook reflects its uneven performance in the first half of 2026, led by AI-related boom and against the backdrop of a two-speed economic growth, more firms are seeing payment delays become more frequent and severe, while customer defaults can have a significant financial impact. “With conditions varying considerably across sectors, businesses should continue to monitor counterparties closely and protect their cash flow,” he said.
Customer defaults more common in Singapore than across APAC
More than half (57%) of Singapore firms experienced at least one customer default during the past 12 months, compared with 45% across APAC.
The financial impact was also substantial for some organisations. Among Singapore firms that experienced defaults, 31% said they affected more than 10% of their total receivables, compared with 28% across the region. At the other end of the scale, 49% said defaults accounted for no more than 5% of receivables, against 54% across APAC.
For Singapore businesses, this means building a broader and more up-to-date view of customer risk by monitoring changes in payment behaviour, requests for extended credit, disputes and other emerging warning signs alongside traditional financial information. With 52% expecting payment conditions to deteriorate over the coming year, early identification and timely action will be increasingly important to protecting cash flow and limiting potential losses.