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Company closure in North Rhine-Westphalia (symbol picture): Many companies had to give up in the corona crisis
Photo: Oliver Berg / DPA
Billions in government aid and exceptional regulations have prevented a wave of corporate bankruptcies in Germany.
From January through September of this year, local courts reported 10,682 corporate insolvencies.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, that was 14.5 percent less than in the same period of the previous year.
The level of the first nine months of 2019 not affected by the corona crisis was undercut even more, by 25.7 percent.
"The downward trend of the past few months continued until September 2021, even after many special regulations, such as the suspended obligation to file for insolvency for over-indebted companies," said the Wiesbaden statisticians.
The credit agency Creditreform expects 14,300 bankruptcies for the whole year - a record low.
However, according to the Federal Office, more economically important companies filed for bankruptcy between January and September 2021 than in the same period of the previous year.
Therefore, the expected claims of the creditors increased from around 39.3 billion euros to around 45.5 billion euros.
In order to avert a wave of bankruptcies as a result of the pandemic, the state temporarily suspended the obligation to file for bankruptcy in the event of over-indebtedness or insolvency.
Since May 1st, the obligation to file for insolvency has been in full effect again.
Therefore, an increase in bankruptcies was expected.
There are exceptions for businesses that have suffered damage from heavy rain or flooding in the summer.
The Leibniz Institute for Economic Research Halle (IWH), which publishes a monthly insolvency trend, sees a trend towards a little more bankruptcies for November based on an evaluation.
"We expect a further slight increase in the number of bankruptcies in partnerships and corporations over the next two months," said IWH researcher Steffen Müller at the beginning of this week.
At the same time, Müller pointed out that "the number of companies that can only stay in the market through state support programs is increasing every month".
kig / dpa
