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Insolvency recovery in Düsseldorf (archive): Businesses like this receive significantly fewer supplies than they did a few years ago
Photo: Martin Gerten / dpa
The researchers speak of a sign of the upswing: In July, according to a study, 639 partnerships and corporations were reported as insolvent.
The Institute for Economic Research Halle (IWH) announced that the number of company bankruptcies had fallen to a historic low despite the corona crisis.
In July it was ten percent less than in June and a good 25 percent less than in July 2020.
The IWH experts expect the positive trend to continue for the time being: early indicators did not suggest a noticeable increase in the number of insolvencies in August either. The data is based, among other things, on bankruptcy notices from the registration courts and company balance sheets.
The decrease compared to the same month last year is also remarkable because in July 2020 the obligation to file for insolvency was still suspended in order to prevent a wave of bankruptcies in the corona crisis. Normally, such an application must be made no later than three weeks after the occurrence of a reason for bankruptcy such as over-indebtedness or insolvency. Since October 2020, the obligation to apply has again been in effect for insolvent companies, and from the end of December also for over-indebted companies. The last exemption for companies that are still waiting for the disbursement of the state aid planned since November was canceled on May 1, 2021.
"The persistently low insolvency figures also reflect the long-awaited economic upswing," said Steffen Müller, who heads the structural change and productivity department and the insolvency research at the IWH.
After the end of many Corona requirements, business in the hotel and hospitality industry, for example, is going better again, which helped the German economy to grow by 1.5 percent in the second quarter.
State aid programs and the reluctance of some creditors also continued to play a major role, said Müller.
In addition, most companies entered the pandemic in perfect health and still have a functioning business model.
In historical comparison, however, these numbers are extremely low.
Almost 20 years ago, an average of 2000 partnerships and corporations filed for bankruptcy per month.
Five years ago, according to the IWH, there were still more than a thousand.
fdi / Reuters
