Federal Office of Statistics
Still no wave of bankruptcies in sight
The English inscription “Store Closing” and the addition “It’s time to say Goodbye” on the window of a closed shop in downtown Oldenburg. Photo: Hauke-Christian Dittrich / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The German state tried with a lot of money to prevent a wave of bankruptcies in the Corona crisis. Even after the exemption regulations expire, the number of corporate insolvencies has not yet increased.
The feared wave of company bankruptcies is still not reflected in the official statistics.
With 1029 cases, the number of corporate insolvencies in August of the current year was even 2.1 percent below the figure for the same month last year. According to the Federal Statistical Office on Friday, the level in August 2019, which was not influenced by the Corona crisis, was also 36.7 percent below.
In order to avert a wave of bankruptcies in the Corona crisis, the state temporarily suspended the obligation to file for insolvency in the event of overindebtedness or insolvency. Since May 1st, the obligation to file for insolvency has been fully applicable 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.
“In the figures for August 2021, among other things due to the processing time at the courts, there is still no trend reversal in the number of corporate insolvencies to be observed,” stated the Wiesbaden statisticians. 9637 company bankruptcies from January up to and including August of the current year were 15.7 percent less than in the same period of the previous year.
The Leibniz Institute for Economic Research Halle (IWH), which publishes a monthly insolvency trend, continues to see “no wave of insolvencies in sight”. Although the numbers rose slightly in October 2021, they were still 14 percent below the already very low values from the same month last year. “Our leading indicators suggest a slight increase in corporate insolvencies by the end of the year,” said IWH researcher Steffen Müller at the beginning of this week.
In the case of consumer bankruptcies, on the other hand, the Federal Office registered a sharp increase in August: These soared by 217.7 percent year-on-year to 5779 cases. The statisticians explain this leap with a change in the law that enables consumers to free themselves from residual debts more quickly.