ПОЛИТИКА ПО ТЪРГОВСКО КРЕДИТИРАНЕ И МАТУРИТЕТНА СТРУКТУРА НА ДЪЛГА НА ПУБЛИЧНИТЕ КОМПАНИИ В БЪЛГАРИЯ ПРЕЗ ПЕРИОДА 2018 – 2022.

The research is based on data for 43 non-financial enterprises listed on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange for the period 2018-2022. The results show a statistically significant positive relationship between the indicators of the trade credit policy and the term structure of the enterprises' debt in most years of the studied period. An indicator of the maturity structure of the debt in the study is the ratio Short-term debt/Total debt, and indicators of the trade credit policy of companies are the amount of receivables from customers and suppliers, the ratio Receivables from customers and suppliers/Short-term assets and the ratio Receivables from customers and suppliers/Total assets. This positive relationship is in accordance with the hypothesis of matching the maturities of the liabilities and the assets financed with them and reflects the desire of the companies to hedge the risk and reduce their costs on the borrowed resource. It is established that only in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic in Bulgaria, there is no significant relationship between the trade credit policy and the maturity structure of the debt of public companies. The reasons for this are the sharp and unexpected deterioration of business conditions in the sectors affected by the pandemic, the strong increase in uncertainty, the disruption of supply chains and difficulties in accessing finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]