Number of bankruptcies increased by more than half: Report

The number of bankruptcies in the Netherlands has risen by more than half in the first quarter, the Faillissements Dossier reported. The businesses that filed for bankruptcy mainly concerned cafes, restaurants, retail shops and online retailers, said the website, which extensively tracks bankruptcy trends in the Netherlands.

The website determined that 781 companies and institutions went bankrupt from January to March, compared to 506 in the first three months of last year. This represents an increase of 54.3 percent. The number of bankrupt cafes and restaurants nearly tripled to 54.

Earlier, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) also reported that the number of bankruptcies is rising again after hardly any companies went bankrupt during the coronavirus pandemic. The fact that the number of bankruptcies was fairly limited for a long time was partly due to the financial support from the Cabinet during the pandemic, which meant that companies that were not fundamentally sound from a financial perspective could continue to survive.

In the meantime, companies are no longer mainly plagued by coronavirus, but by the sharp increase in energy prices and generally high inflation levels. The government has also provided support for this. The latest data from the CBS, the official statistics office of the Netherlands, is for the month of February. In a few weeks, this will be updated to include the official bankruptcy figures for March.

Credit insurer Atradius recently predicted in a report that the Netherlands will be faced with considerably more bankruptcies this year versus last year. According to the company, this does not mean that there will suddenly be a great deal of bankruptcies, but rather that the bankruptcy figures will return to a normal level.

The number of bankruptcies this year and next is not likely to be nearly as high as in 2013. That was when the country reached a peak following the global economic crisis, forcing the largest number of companies to close up.