STA, 10 November 2020 - During the coronavirus epidemic, there were fewer cases of bankruptcies among companies compared to last year, show data by the AJPES agency for legal records. In the first nine months of 2020, a total of 845 companies went bankrupt, down 16% on the same period in 2019 and a 21% drop on the same period in 2018.
In the first quarter of 2020, 344 companies declared bankruptcy, somewhat more than in the January-March period in 2019.
However, in the second quarter this year, when the first Covid-19 wave peaked, the number of bankruptcies (222) declined by as much as 29% compared to the same period in 2019. Moreover, the number of companies going bust in the third quarter of 2020, 279, dropped by 22% year-on-year.
The emergency act to contain the epidemic and mitigate its consequences, passed during the first wave, extended certain insolvency procedure deadlines.
The law also set down that managements were not required to apply for bankruptcy if companies had become insolvent as a result of Covid-19 and lockdown measures. The act was effective until three months after the first epidemic wave.
The government has provided a set of stimulus measures for companies struggling due to the corona crisis, including the furlough and short-time work schemes and a loan payment deferral programme, with most of the measures still effective.
