As every month Statbel publishes statistics on bankruptcies, which are based on data from the Crossroads Bank of Enterprises and Statbel's business register, supplemented by the notifications of the commercial courts.
When interpreting the figures, account should be taken of the fact that there is a certain delay between the termination of the economic activity and the notification of bankruptcy by the commercial court. As a result, the economic impact is only visible in the figures after a certain period of time.
Moreover, because of the coronavirus crisis, many business courts and registries operate at reduced capacity and limit their activities.
Moreover, a Royal Decree was published in the Belgian Official Journal on 24/04/2020 leading to the freezing of bankruptcy proceedings before the courts. The purpose of this decree is to protect enterprises that were healthy before 18 March 2020 from the effects of the Covid-19 crisis (Royal Decree No. 15 regarding the temporary suspension of enforcement measures and other measures in favour of companies during the Covid-19 crisis). These elements have a significant impact on the figures that Statbel has nevertheless decided to publish.
Thus in April 2020, only 298 companies were declared bankrupt in Belgium, compared to 869 in March.
Bankruptcies registered in April resulted in 705 job losses: 423 full-time jobs, 182 part-time jobs and 100 salaried employers.
The sectors with the highest numbers of bankruptcies in April : 109 bankrupt enterprises in transportation, 65 in trade, 52 in construction and 49 in accommodation and food service activities.
At regional level, there were 163 bankruptcies in Flanders, 83 in Wallonia and 52 in Brussels.