2024-07-13 10:39:13
The number of regular insolvencies rose by 6.3 percent in June compared to the previous year. A significant decrease compared to the figures from May.
The wave of bankruptcies among German companies is not over, but it is no longer increasing as quickly: after twelve months of double-digit increases, 6.3 percent more regular insolvencies were filed with the local courts in June 2024 than a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office. In May, the increase rate was just under 26 percent.
The courts will decide within three months whether these applications will actually lead to insolvency proceedings. The most recent figures show 1,906 new proceedings for April this year. That was 33.5 percent more than a year earlier. The creditors’ claims totaled 11.4 billion euros, compared to 1.3 billion euros in the same month last year. Particularly large insolvency proceedings were therefore initiated.
Out of 10,000 companies, an average of 5.5 filed for bankruptcy in April. The companies most affected were in the transport and warehousing sector, with an average of 10.1 cases. There was also a higher risk of bankruptcy in the construction industry (8.5) and the hospitality industry (7.4). The number of private bankruptcies also rose sharply in April, climbing by 27.9 percent year-on-year to 6,277 cases.
Experts expect the number of corporate bankruptcies in Germany to rise to around 20,000 this year. Weakened by the Corona years, high energy prices and rising interest rates, more and more companies in Germany are getting into trouble. In addition, exemptions with which the state had tried to avert a wave of bankruptcies during the pandemic have expired.
The Federal Statistical Office had counted 17,814 company bankruptcies for 2023. Despite an increase of a good fifth, this was a comparatively low figure in a long-term comparison: In 2009, during the financial and economic crisis, almost 33,000 companies in this country had slipped into insolvency.