A total of

3,899 companies

have entered

bankruptcy

in the first ten months of the year,

31% more

than those that did so in the same period of 2019, despite the fact that the

bankruptcy moratorium

that the Government activated by the pandemic.

It is not only the highest number of competitions in that same period since 2015, but

the total number of competitions

that took place

in the year as a whole

between 2016 and 2020

is exceeded

, according to the Mercantile Statistics published this Monday by the College of Property Registrars.

This large number of bankruptcies occurs despite the fact that the Government has

extended

Royal Decree-Law 16/2020, of April 28,

until December 31

, which suspended the duty to request the declaration of bankruptcy.

As it is not mandatory, there are companies that are

rushing this deadline

to try to save themselves or stay alive artificially, so it is foreseeable that the number of contests will continue to grow in 2022, when the moratorium is suspended.

"The lengthening of the exceptional measures taken to control the pandemic has caused people to start talking about the so-called '

zombie companies

', companies that are economically dead, but still 'active' by their owners pending compensation measures for part of the State or a recovery that does not seem to arrive yet, "the College of Registrars warned at the end of last year.

390 contests per month

The number of contests so far this year has been

390 per month on average

, although a

total of

423

were declared in

October

, 7.9% more than in the same month last year and 12.5% ​​more than in 2019.

"As of March 2021,

the annual increase in

bankruptcies

has been very important

, coinciding with the slowdown in bankruptcy processes during 2020, induced by legal measures decreed as instruments to help against the health and economic crisis. Since August it observes a stabilization, with a tendency to

softer increases

", they explain.

In the last month, the

Community of Madrid

has led the number of competitions, with 123, which represents an increase of 59.7% compared to those in October 2019. In

Catalonia

, the number of competitions this month has been 96, slightly less than those that occurred in the October prior to the pandemic (103).

Madrid accumulates in 2021 a total of 958 competitions and Catalonia, 905, according to this body, which for the moment has reversed what happened last year: Catalonia was the leader of competitions (852), followed by Madrid (775).

Contests could reach 5,000 in the year

Firms such as

Solunion

foresee that in the last months of the year the bankruptcies in Catalonia will increase and this community will end up being the leader again in insolvencies in 2021, with 1,400 bankruptcies.

For the country as a whole, this company plans

5,000 tenders at the end of December

, 30% more than in 2020.

The College of Registrars has also reported the number of companies that have been

established

in the country until October, a total of

85,460

, 32% more than those created in the same period of 2020 and 6.5% more than the recorded in the first ten months of 2019.

Until September, the latest data available for

extinctions

, a total of

24,167 companies

have

terminated

their activity

, 28.6% more year-on-year and 8% more than between January and October 2019.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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