Romania’s use of factoring, where businesses sell their accounts receivable, such as invoices, to a third party at a discount, reportedly was down during the first half of the year.
The country’s factoring market totaled €1.1 billion (US$1.4 billion) during the first six months of 2014, down 9 percent from a year earlier, according to Romania Insider.com, citing data from the Romanian Factoring Association.
The highest growth was registered in import factoring, which rose 14 percent year over year, the news source said. Export factoring decreased by 4 percent.
The results represent a 180-degree turn from a year earlier, when import factoring decreased by 20 percent and the import factoring registered a year-over-year 4 percent increase of 4 percent, Bogdan Rosu, association president, said in the article.
“This structure practically goes in parallel with the overall development of the economy, where higher-than-expected consumption hasn’t generated new jobs in Romania, but was made mainly based on imports, the industrial production slowing down in H1,” he said. “Lack of investments may trigger this year a contraction of the factoring market between 8 percent and 10 percent, but there is a possibility for the figures to stay at the same level as last year. It all depends, however, on the accelerated resumption of the investment process, with effects most likely next year.”
