In the last nine months, the number of insolvency proceedings has increased by 14.17% to 3,618, a figure higher than even pre-pandemic levels (3,383 in 2019). The forecast of economists is that this figure will continue its rise during 2023. However, not all autonomous communities reflect this rise. According to the Insolvency Atlas prepared by the General Council of Economists, four autonomous communities account for 3 out of every 4 creditors’ insolvency proceedings in Spain.
Thus, almost 74% of the bankruptcy proceedings that took place during 2021 were concentrated in Catalonia, the Community of Madrid, the Community of Valencia and Andalusia. In total, there were 5,234 contests in 2021 of the 7,062 registered throughout Spain. Catalonia is the autonomous community with the most contests with 2,446 compared to the 1,253 registered in 2020. The Community of Madrid was a long way behind with 1,259 contests in 2021, compared to 859 the previous year.
In all the autonomous communities, growth in the number of contests was recorded during 2021, but the truth is that they are increasingly concentrated in certain territories: only in the first four autonomous communities and in the Basque Country did the threshold of 250 contests be exceeded of company creditors. On the other hand, Ceuta and Melilla were the Spanish autonomous regions with the fewest registered creditors’ contests (3), ahead of La Rioja (17), Cantabria (43), Extremadura (44) and Navarra (53).
If the data is broken down by province, the result is similar. Barcelona accumulated the largest number of insolvency proceedings with a total of 2,216 in 2021, followed by Madrid with 1,259. Further afield, Valencia registered 506 contests, Alicante 304 and Seville 215. Once again, the two main cities in Spain concentrated the contests registered during the past year. On the other side of the scale, Ceuta and Melilla repeated as demarcations with less bankruptcy activity (3), followed by Segovia and Zamora (7), Ávila and Sória (8).
At the same time, the United Kingdom leads insolvencies in 2022 with an increase of 37%, although growth will slow to just 4% in 2023. It is the only European country with positive forecasts in this regard for next year, since in the rest of the States the figures will worsen due to inflation and energy prices. One of the most affected will be the Netherlands, with a forecast of 24% growth in insolvency proceedings in 2022 and 39% in 2023.
Benchmark countries such as France and Germany follow the same negative path: the French country will see an increase in its bankruptcy proceedings of 15% this year and 33% in 2023, while Germany will suffer an increase of 4% in 2022 and 10% over the next year. Spain is in an intermediate position for the two years with a growth forecast for its business tenders of 8% by 2022 and 13% by 2023.
The USA, worse than China
Looking at both ends of the map, the United States offers worse forecasts in this area than China. In the first case, with increases of 8% in 2022 and 23% over the next year, economists expect businesses to benefit from the cushions built up since the pandemic from the massive overhaul of the Paycheck Protection Program in subsidies and the recovery of profits.
At the same time, China could keep its insolvency levels under control, according to the General Council of Economists, with forecasts of 1% in 2022 and 11% in 2023. This is due to a point of relatively low entry compared to other countries, despite a rise in difficulties suffered by the companies most exposed to international trade.