Vienna, 4th August, 2019 (WAM) — The latest official figures in Austria showed a significant increase in the number of corporate bankruptcies in the country during the first half of this year.
The report issued by the Austrian organization “AKV Europa”, which specializes in examining and evaluating credit applications, recorded 2,098 bankruptcies in the first half of this year, an increase of 35.8% compared to the same period of the previous year, which is the highest number of bankruptcies in Austria in 15 years.
The semi-annual periodic figures showed that the total liabilities of bankrupt companies in Austria rose to 11.5 billion euros, a nine-fold increase compared to the same period last year, due to major bankruptcies, most notably the bankruptcy of the “Signa Group” and the bankruptcy of the branch of the American electric car manufacturer “Fisker”, which contributed significantly to the increase in the level of liabilities.
Economists say the reasons for the high number of corporate bankruptcies in Austria include a reluctance to consume and invest, an ongoing industrial recession, high interest rates and unemployment figures, strict lending requirements, and a slight decline in GDP in the first half of this year compared to the previous year.
