Number of company bankruptcies increased significantly in September

The rising prices are putting a considerable strain on German companies and are forcing many of them to their knees: the number of company insolvencies rose more sharply in September than was last expected. According to an analysis by the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research Halle (IWH) presented on Monday, the number of insolvencies of partnerships and corporations last month was 762 - that was 34 percent more than a year ago.

There were also more bankruptcies than recently estimated, because a month ago the forecast had shown an increase of 25 percent. As the analysis now published shows, 6,600 jobs were affected in the top ten percent of companies whose bankruptcy was reported in September.

In addition to the severely deteriorating economic situation, the companies that have gotten into trouble are particularly affected by the high prices of important production factors, such as energy costs as well as rising wages and interest on loans. The IWH predicted that the number of insolvencies would “continue to rise noticeably” in the coming months.

For October, the experts expect an increase of around a third year-on-year, in November the previous year's values ​​could be exceeded by 40 percent, they said. An increase of twelve to 14 percent is expected for the year as a whole, since the number of insolvencies in the first half of the year was slightly below the previous year's level.