Inflation and rising interest rates have impacted companies' liquidity and the first signs of a slowdown in growth have appeared since the second half of 2022. As also highlighted by previous studies, balance sheet data confirm the picture of worsening companies' financial exposure, in particular on:
Increase in non-payments
Increased prospective risk
The main findings of the Budget Observatory
The 2022 Financial Statements Observatory mom database is based on 221 thousand financial statements of companies with a turnover of more than 100 thousand euros and present in the Cerved archives as of July 15, 2023, which for the first time have been analyzed and studied through the actual data communicated by the companies.
The data shows that inflation, energy crisis and increase in interest rates have had an impact on operating costs and liquidity of companies. In fact, a marked increase in the costs of raw materials, services and labor is observed as well as an increase in the cost of debt, in all size classes. Nonetheless, companies have continued to invest (+3.5% fixed assets) and to borrow (+2.5% financial debt).