“If the delivery payment period is shortened to 30 days, an annual benefit of 13.9 trillion won will be generated.”

A study showed that if the statutory delivery payment payment period is shortened from the current 60 days to 30 days, social benefits of 13.9 trillion won per year will be generated based on companies undergoing external audit.

Professor Lee Jeong-hwan of Myongji University made this announcement at the '3rd meeting of the Payment Innovation Task Force (TF) between large and small businesses' held by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups on the 10th.

Professor Lee explained, “It is estimated that if the analysis target is expanded to non-externally audited small and medium-sized enterprises, social benefits of up to 2.16 billion won per year will be generated.”

He predicted, “Consignee companies that receive payment quickly can not only reduce interest costs but also benefit from improved asset profitability,” adding, “As a result, overall financial benefits will increase.”

The TF has been operating since June of this year with the participation of industry, experts, and related ministries to identify tasks and collect opinions to improve payment practices that have become entrenched in business-to-business transactions.

In particular, taking into consideration that ▲ the statutory delivery payment deadline has been maintained at 60 days since 1975, and ▲ the Large-Scale Distribution Business Act was recently revised to shorten the payment deadline, and amendments to the Win-Win Cooperation Act and the Subcontracting Act were proposed, various measures were discussed to effectively shorten the period and minimize the burden on small and medium-sized enterprises entrusted.

At the meeting on this day, industry opinions were collected on improvement tasks in the payment sector derived from the TF general meeting and working-level meetings, and future directions were discussed.

Next, the results of a study analyzing the economic effects of shortening the payment deadline were also shared.

Lee Byeong-kwon, Second Vice Minister of SMEs and Startups, said, "The task force was launched and operated to think about ways to break the framework of payment practices and create a transaction environment where large and small businesses can coexist and create a trading environment. We will strive to institutionalize and settle in the field a transaction structure that allows small and medium-sized businesses, which support the national economy, to receive the right price on time."