The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan hit a 10-year-high in the first half of 2024, marking the 3rd consecutive year of increase for the period, as labor shortages and inflation took their toll, a credit research company said Friday.
The failures, involving debts of at least 10 million yen ($62,200), rose 22.0 percent year-on-year to 4,931 cases in the six months, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
Those caused by labor shortages increased by 2.2 times to 145 cases, hitting the highest for the period since the survey began in 2013.
Bankruptcies triggered by rising prices increased by 23.4 percent to 374 cases, while an additional 327 bankruptcies involved companies struggling to repay government-provided interest-free loans issued during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The total liabilities left by bankrupt companies in the January to June period amounted to 721.04 billion yen, a decrease of 22.8 percent, with the research company attributing the figure to fewer large-scale bankruptcies.
In June alone, bankruptcies increased 6.49 percent from a year earlier to 820 cases, with liabilities falling 27.20 percent to 109.88 billion yen, marking the 4th consecutive month of decrease.
