Rising Bankruptcy Rates: The Impact of Expensive Energy, High Interest Rates, and Corona Debt

Sep 26, 2023 at 10:18 am

Credit insurer Atradius expects that many companies will go bankrupt this year and next. As many as 52 percent more companies may go bankrupt by 2023. Companies are struggling with expensive energy, high interest rates and the corona debt they have to pay off.

In 2021, 1,818 companies went bankrupt, the lowest level in thirty years. In 2022, the number of bankruptcies rose to 2,144. Those are the only two years of this century in which fewer than three thousand companies went under. After the 52 percent increase this year, a further increase of 39 percent can be expected in 2024, Atradius estimates.

The number of bankruptcies has been increasing again since the end of 2022. The corona support came to an end and at the same time the costs for energy, personnel and other matters increased. The fact that companies now have to pay off their corona debt is an additional cause of the increase this year. This often involves tens of thousands of euros.

During the pandemic, the Tax Authorities granted entrepreneurs a deferral of paying part of their taxes. Now more than a hundred thousand entrepreneurs have to start paying back. The tax authorities kindly requested this at the end of 2022, but the tax authorities have been collecting the debts since September this year.

According to Atradius, many ‘zombie companies’ will collapse this year. These are companies that could only survive in recent years through government support, but are now going bankrupt.

According to Atradius, with the increase in bankruptcies, we are returning to normal. “We have to put the increase into perspective. The number of bankruptcies is at a historically low level,” says Atradius economist Theo Smid.

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2023-09-26 08:18:44
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