Local firms are clearly struggling to meet bill payments, going by data out yesterday.

Payment performance nosedived to a near three-year low in the first quarter amid the coronavirus impact.

Slow or delayed payments surged by 9.21 percentage points - 36.59 per cent in the first quarter of last year to 45.8 per cent in the first three months of this year. Delayed payments climbed 6.05 percentage points from the last quarter of last year to the first quarter of this year.

Conversely, prompt payments plunged from 51.7 per cent in the first quarter last year to 43.2 per cent this year - nearing the low of 42.18 per cent hit in the third quarter of 2016, the Singapore Commercial Credit Bureau (SCCB) noted.

Slow payment is when less than 50 per cent of total bills are paid within the agreed terms, while prompt payments are when 90 per cent or more of accounts are settled.

"The marked deterioration in payment performance is a clear sign that firms are struggling to meet their debt obligations with creditors," said Ms Audrey Chia, chief executive of D&B Singapore.

"We are expecting the downtrend in payment performance to continue as firms are exposed to a higher risk of payment delinquency in the months to come."

D&B Singapore compiled the study figures by monitoring more than 1.6 million payment transactions noted by the SCCB.

The SCCB said prompt payments accounted for fewer than half of total payment transactions in the first quarter while slow payments comprised about two-fifths.

Payment delays worsened across the board for all five sectors tracked by the SCCB, with the services and manufacturing segments suffering the biggest year-on-year increases.

Services was the worst hit.

Slow payments jumped 9.19 percentage points to 43.68 per cent from 34.49 per cent a year earlier.

Delayed payments were up by 3.77 percentage points from the fourth quarter of last year to the first quarter this year.

The sector covers hotels and accommodation, recreation and social services - parts of the economy most directly impacted by massive travel restrictions and lockdowns caused by the pandemic.

Slow payments in manufacturing increased 7.15 percentage points to 43.8 per cent and were up 4.67 percentage points from the previous quarter.

The payment delays came from manufacturers of petroleum, chemicals and wood.