Cash shortage is still giving companies headaches

Marmura Product, a company with 367,000-euro turnover in 2008, which specialises in manufacturing and selling marble and granite products, has come to deliver products to its clients only for cash despite risking to lose clients, in a bid to avoid problems caused by late payments. “We’ve preferred losing clients because we cannot make a clear distinction between reliable and unreliable clients,” says Mihai Bardinici, a shareholder in the company. NBR data show there are no signs of companies’ cash reserves rebounding in February, either, with bounced payments reaching 720m RON (175m euros), up 17.7% compared with the same month of 2009. Against the monthly average of second half of 2009, bounced payments because of the lack of enough money in accounts are falling, indicating a rising number of firms no longer accepting payment instruments rather than cash flow improvement. Amid the rising number of payment incidents, firms have started taking more precautions and say the system of payment instruments needs to be revised.