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Clearance sale of a shop in Hamburg:
Photo: HANNO BODE / imago images/Hanno Bode
In August, the number of standard insolvencies in Germany rose by 6.6 percent compared to July.
This was announced by the Federal Statistical Office, citing preliminary figures.
In the entire first half of 2022, however, the number of bankruptcy applications for companies was 7,113, four percent below the level of the first half of 2021.
The official statisticians point to the large time delay: Accordingly, proceedings are only included in the statistics after the first decision of the insolvency court - and thus often only a few months after the application was made.
In addition, the statistics do not reflect all business transactions, as these can also take place before the insolvency occurs, according to the statement.
In the past few weeks, two well-known companies have had to file for bankruptcy: the Hamburg shoe retail chain Görtz has applied for a protective shield procedure in self-administration.
The rising energy prices and the high inflation have led to enormous reluctance to buy, Görtz said.
The shops, however, remained open;
From December, the company wants to pay the wages and salaries of the 1,800 employees from its own resources again, until then they are secured by the Federal Employment Agency.
The well-known toilet paper manufacturer Hakle has also applied for insolvency proceedings under self-administration.
The reason for this is the “massively increased costs for material and energy procurement as well as transport”, which the company has not yet been able to pass on to customers to a sufficient extent.
"Our problem isn't the lack of demand," says company boss and co-owner Volker Jung in an interview with SPIEGEL.
According to the statistics, however, most corporate insolvencies were in the construction industry, which accounted for 1,330 of a total of 7,113 procedures.
Trading in 1058 procedures followed.
The number of personal bankruptcies – officially called consumer bankruptcies – has fallen even more than the number of company bankruptcies.
In the first half of 2022, it fell by 20.2 percent compared to the same period last year.
However, this strong decline can also be due to a special effect, the statisticians said.
Since October 2020, there has been a much shorter period for the discharge of residual debt - at that time it fell from six to three years.
Therefore, many private individuals initially withheld their insolvency application in order to benefit from this new regulation.
However, this catch-up effect seems to have ended in the meantime - and the statistics accordingly show a sharp decline in insolvencies.
fdi