The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan in May declined 13.2 percent from a year earlier to 724, the lowest for the month in 25 years, a credit research agency said Monday.
Banks’ acceptance of small borrowers’ loan rescheduling requests, an increase in their lending to small businesses and public works contracts being awarded ahead of schedule have helped prevent business failures, Tokyo Shoko Research said.
Liabilities left by bankrupt companies in May decreased 26.0 percent from a year earlier to 127,755 million yen ($1,018 million) in the first year-on-year decrease in four months, as the business failures were mostly small in scale with debts of less than 100 million yen.
Eight of the 10 industrial sectors saw fewer bankruptcies than a year earlier. In particular, the manufacturing sector logged a decline for the 22nd straight month.
The number of corporate bankruptcies declined in eight of the country’s nine regions, apart from Tohoku where business failures increased, particularly in the retailing and wholesale industry, the credit research firm said.
