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 reflected in the figures after a certain period of time.
Moreover, because of the Covid-19 crisis, many business courts and registries operated at reduced capacity and limited their activities until 18 May. They have generally gradually restarted their activities since then. Therefore, the current figures cannot be regarded as a reliable measure of the real economic situation.
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). This moratorium, which initially lasted until 17 May, has since been extended until 17 June 2020.
670 enterprises were declared bankrupt in Belgium in June 2020.
Bankruptcies registered in April resulted in 2,668 job losses: 1,277 full-time jobs, 1,144 part-time jobs and 247 salaried employers.
The sectors with the highest numbers of bankruptcies in June : 220 bankrupt enterprises in transportation, 160 in accommodation and food service activities , 141 in trade and 122 in construction.
At regional level, there were 365 bankruptcies in Flanders, 167 in Wallonia and 138 in Brussels.