The number of families and businesses that filed for bankruptcy due to not being able to meet their payments and debts totalled 2,090 during the first quarter of the year, which represents a decrease of 29% over the same period of 2013, according to the latest Bankruptcy Proceedings Statistics published by the National Statistics Institute on Thursday.
Specifically, 178 families filed for bankruptcy during the quarter, representing a decrease of 24.3% over the same quarter of 2013, while the number of insolvent companies fell by 29.4% year-on-year, to a total of 1,912 bankruptcy procedures.
Quarter-on-quarter (first quarter of 2014 over the last quarter of 2013), the number of debtors fell by 8.5%, the largest decline in the first quarter in the last five years. This reduction was due to the drop in the number of insolvent companies (-9.6%), as the number of families filing for bankruptcy between January and March increased by 5.3%.
Over 78% of the companies that were declared insolvent between January and March were limited companies, compared to 16.4% which were corporations. Specifically, the number of corporations filing for bankruptcy during the first quarter fell by 34% year-on-year, to a total of 315, while the number of limited companies in this situation fell by 28.7%, to 1,500 procedures.
The number of individual business persons filing for bankruptcy also fell by 28.9% year-on-year, although the figure increased by 8% quarter-on-quarter to a total of 54.
During the first quarter, the number of voluntary bankruptcies amounted to 1,945, a decrease of 30.8% year-on-year, while the necessary bankruptcies increased by 8.2% to a total of 145.
El Economista reported that, between January and March, 24.1% of the bankrupt companies were principally engaged in construction (460 proceedings), while 19.5% were involved in trade (372) and 15.6% in industry and energy (299). In total, these three sectors accounted for almost six out of ten of the insolvency proceedings in the first quarter.
Catalonia, Madrid, Valencia and Andalusia were the regions with the highest number of bankruptcy declarations in the first quarter, as they accounted for over 60% of all procedures. Specifically, Catalonia had a total of 450 proceedings, Madrid registered 316, Valencia had 265, and Andalusia, 231.
Year-on-year, the regions where the number of bankruptcies fell most were the Balearic Islands (-85.2%), Asturias (-57.6%) and Aragón (-46.2%), while the only regions to register increases over the first quarter of 2013 were La Rioja (+25%) and the Canary Islands (+20.3%).
The regions with the least insolvencies declared in the first quarter were Asturias, with 28 procedures, followed by La Rioja and Navarra, both with 30.