Private individuals less affected
Number of bankruptcies rises significantly in January
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The German economy has been in crisis for some time. This is reflected in the number of bankruptcies. In January, the number of bankruptcies rose by more than 26 percent compared to the same month last year. Companies are particularly affected. A medium-sized business expert predicts that the numbers will continue to rise.
As in previous months, the number of corporate and consumer insolvencies rose sharply in January. The number of insolvencies filed with the local courts increased by 26.2 percent compared to the same month last year, the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden announced on the basis of preliminary results. Since June 2023, insolvencies have been increasing consistently at double-digit rates.
Final figures are usually available after three months, as the applications are only included in the statistics after a court decision. In November, 1,513 companies filed for bankruptcy, an increase of 15.3 percent compared to the same month last year.
In the eleven months from January to November 2023, the number of corporate bankruptcies rose by around 23 percent to over 16,000 cases, the statisticians announced. However, compared to the period before Corona in 2019, the number was still 6.5 percent lower.
The SME expert of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), Marc Evers, explained: “The poor economic situation is increasingly reflected in the development of insolvencies. The negative trend in corporate insolvencies is intensifying.”
Small businesses particularly affected
The DIHK economic survey published on Thursday confirms the development: “Among small companies with up to 20 employees, four percent currently see the risk of their own company going bankrupt. There are around three million companies in this size category, which represents around 85 percent of all companies in Germany.”
Unfortunately, the outlook for the coming months does not promise any improvement, Evers continued: More and more companies are reporting increasing bad debts. According to the survey, 13 percent of all companies are affected by this. This is the second highest value measured in the DIHK statistics kept since 2020.
Consumer bankruptcies fell by 1.0 percent year-on-year to 5,811 cases in November. From January to October, 61,460 consumers filed for personal bankruptcy, a slight increase of 1.1 percent compared to the same period in 2022.
