Bankruptcies in Germany at highest since 2009 financial crisis

ISTANBUL

The number of corporate bankruptcies in Germany is at its highest since the financial crisis in 2009, according to data Thursday from The Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).

In the fourth quarter of 2024, a total of 4,215 companies went bankrupt, while 38,000 jobs were affected.

The number of bankruptcies in the last quarter of 2024 grew 36% compared to the last quarter of 2023.

Germany’s bankruptcy filings of companies and enterprises increased 24% in December compared to the same month of the previous year, rising to 1,340.

Bankruptcies in December were 54% higher than the December average for the pre-coronavirus pandemic period of 2016 – 2019.

Steffen Müller, head of the IWH Insolvency Research Department, attributed the high number of bankruptcies to current economic problems, rising energy and employee wage costs.

“Years of extremely low interest rates prevented bankruptcies, and bankruptcies did not occur during the pandemic due to subsidies such as short-time working allowance,” Müller noted.

With the increase in interest rates and the elimination of subsidies, bankruptcies increased from 2022 onwards.

The German economy remains fragile, especially due to persistent weakness in the manufacturing sector.