“There’s a highly rigorous selection process on the part of banks in relation to state-owned companies – they’re not willing to lend to them,” says Lucian Croitoru, monetary policy advisor to the central bank governor.
As a result of this strict selection, overdue loans to state-owned firms make up much less of the total than past due loans to private companies, which accounted for 6.88% in mid-2010.
While private companies’ payment practices deteriorated rapidly, a slight improvement was registered in the case of state-owned companies.
On the other hand, state-owned companies’ payment practices when it comes to repayment of commercial loans, generally loans granted by suppliers or other business partners, differs considerably. Thus, the weight of overdue payments in the case of commercial loans stands at 25% for state-owned companies, compared to just 7% for private companies.
At the same time, state-owned companies are significantly behind with the payment of taxes to the state budget.