Number of German company failures falls to record low
BERLIN (Reuters) - The number of German companies filing for insolvency fell last year to the lowest level on record thanks to a prolonged upswing in Europe's biggest economy, data showed on Friday.
In 2015, the number of firms registering as insolvent fell by 4 percent to 23,123 compared to the previous year, the Federal Statistics Office said.
It was the sixth consecutive annual fall and the lowest level since the adoption of current insolvency rules in 1999, the office said in a statement.
The sum of probable claims by creditors of insolvent companies plunged to some 17.5 billion euros (£13.6 billion) from around 25.2 billion euros in 2014, it said.
The number of personal bankruptcies also declined, going down roughly 7 percent to 80,347. This was the fifth annual decline.
The German economy grew by 1.7 percent in 2015, driven by strong private consumption and higher state spending.
Robust domestic demand, fuelled by solid wage increases, low inflation and record high employment, is compensating for weaker trade, the traditional driver of the German economy.
The Economy Ministry said in its monthly report on Friday that the economy got off to a good start in 2016 and remained on a solid growth path despite headwinds from slowing emerging markets that affect the key export sector.
(Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Keith Weir)
