The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan hit a 13-year high for the April-September period, a credit research company said Thursday.
In the six-month period, Tokyo Shoko Research counted 5,373 business failures involving liabilities of at least 10 million yen (about 63,000 U.S. dollars), up 3.9 percent from a year earlier. The total was the highest for the fiscal first half since 2013, when 5,505 businesses failed.
Combined liabilities left by bankrupt companies climbed 23.5 percent to 856.1 billion yen, the first year-on-year increase in four years.
Smaller businesses accounted for most of the failures, with firms employing fewer than 10 people making up 90 percent of the total.
Labor-shortage-related failures rose 17.1 percent to a first-half record 240 cases, while those linked to rising prices increased 17.8 percent to 436.
By industry, the services sector recorded the largest number of bankruptcies at 1,828, followed by the construction sector at 1,035.
Looking ahead, Tokyo Shoko Research expects the impact of higher borrowing costs following Bank of Japan interest rate hikes to begin showing up in bankruptcy figures in the second half of the fiscal year.
