Fewer German firms go bust
June 10, 2014
In the first quarter of this year, some 6156 German firms filed for bankruptcy protection, according to latest figures released by the German statistics office, Destatis, Tuesday.
The figure was down by 6.8 percent compared with the same quarter a year ago, Destatis said, and marked the beginning of the fourth consecutive year of falling bankruptcies in Germany. The last rise in the quarterly insolvency figure was recorded in the first quarter of 2010, the agency added.
According to Destatis data, the highest number of failed businesses was reported from the retail sector, including car maintenance, in which 1181 firms went bust between January and March. This was followed by insolvencies in the construction sector, 1027 cases, and technical services with 727 bankruptcies.
Consumer insolvencies had also gone down, Destatis said, slipping by 4.2 percent to a total of 22,115 cases.
On balance, bankrupt firms and individuals owed their creditors about 6 billion euros ($8.1 billion), which was slightly more than the debt of 5.6 billion euros owed in the quarter a year ago.
uhe (AFP, Reuters, dpa)