More than half of Singapore commercial payments late

SINGAPORE, Aug 23 (Reuters) - More than half of the commercial payments made by Singapore companies were late in the second quarter of this year, adding to concerns that the economy may be falling back into recession, the Straits Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.



The paper cited a report by the Singapore Commercial Credit Bureau that 53.1 percent of all payments were late in the three months to June 30, up from 42.5 percent in the previous quarter.



Less than 40 percent of transactions were paid for promptly, the lowest level since the agency introduced the report in 2007. The report describes prompt payment as when at least 90 percent of all bills are paid within the payment period.



The construction sector has the worst record with 65 percent of transactions being classified as late, followed by the retail sector with a 62 percent late payment rate.



The city state's economy contracted 6.5 percent in the second quarter on a seasonally adjusted and annualised basis, while the government has narrowed the growth forecast for 2011 to 5-6 percent compared to an earlier estimates of 5-7 percent.