Corona consequences, high energy prices and increased interest rates are taking their toll: the number of company bankruptcies is increasing. Is there a threat of a “wave of insolvencies”?
After the special Corona rules expired, the number of company bankruptcies in Germany rose again last year, according to official figures. 17,814 companies filed for bankruptcy in 2023, a good fifth (22.1 percent) more than a year earlier, as the Federal Statistical Office announced.
The Wiesbaden statisticians pointed out that the number was very low in a long-term comparison: in 2009, during the financial and economic crisis, almost 33,000 companies in this country slipped into insolvency. Even compared to 2019, the year before the outbreak of the corona pandemic in Germany, the number of corporate insolvencies in 2023 was lower: by 5.0 percent.
Experts expect that the number of company bankruptcies in Germany will continue to rise to around 20,000 cases this year. Weakened by the Corona years, high energy prices and increased interest rates, more and more companies in Germany are getting into difficulties. In addition, exemptions with which the state tried to avert a wave of bankruptcies during the pandemic have expired.
Source: Stern
