In March 2023, 917 bankruptcies were registered by the business courts. This is a 10.7% increase compared to February 2023 (828).
Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, also publishes a detailed report with the major developments of the monthly figures on bankruptcies. This report is available here (NL - FR).
The number of bankruptcies registered in March 2023 is lower than in the same month in 2022 (-0.5%) and in 2019 (-3.3%).
At regional level, the number of bankruptcies increased compared to February 2023 in the Flemish Region (+6.8%) and in the Brussels-Capital Region (+57.4%). Only in the Flemish Region does this figure (546) represent an increase compared to March 2019 (+22.7%). However, one only has to go back to September 2022 to find a higher number of bankruptcies in the latter region (596).
The number of bankruptcies registered in March 2023 increased in all sectors compared to February 2023, except in the horeca sector (-6.9%). Compared to March 2019, this figure increased in three sectors:
- from 40 to 67 in transportation and storage (+27), which is the highest number of bankruptcies since June 2022 (78);
- from 167 to 194 in the construction sector (+27), which is the highest number of bankruptcies since October 2022 (197);
- from 41 to 49 in the manufacturing and energy sector (+8), where one has to go back to September 2022 to find a higher number (50).
The number of jobs lost due to bankruptcies in March 2023 was 2,215. This is an increase of 5.8% compared to February 2023. This also means decreases of 4.2% compared to March 2022 and of 36.1% compared to March 2019.
Although the number of jobs lost in March 2023 increased in the Flemish Region (+4.3%) and in the Brussels-Capital Region (+36.1%) compared to February 2023, only the Walloon Region, with a loss of 582 jobs, counted more lost jobs compared to March 2019 (+3.9%).
The number of jobs lost in March 2023 due to bankruptcies increased compared to February 2023 in six activity sectors. Among these sectors, the horeca (448) and professional, scientific and technical activities (130) registered a higher number of job losses than in March 2019. One has to go back to June 2021 to find a higher number of job losses in the horeca (457) and to January 2023 in professional, scientific and technical activities (298).
Along with this press release and the supplementary report (NL - FR), Statbel also publishes more detailed monthly figures with additional breakdowns at municipal level, by NACEBEL 2008 class or with historical figures going back to 2009. These bankruptcy figures are available on be.STAT via the "Figures" tab of this publication.
When interpreting these figures, it should be taken into account that there is a certain delay between the termination of the economic activity and the declaration of bankruptcy by the business 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 2020. Furthermore, a royal decree leading to the freezing of bankruptcy proceedings before the courts was in force until 17 June 2020, in order to protect the enterprises that were healthy before 18 March 2020 from the effects of the Covid-19 crisis.
Then, on Friday 6 November 2020, the government approved a new moratorium on bankruptcies until 31 January 2021 in order to protect enterprises that were obliged to temporarily close their doors following the ministerial decree published on 1 November 2020 amending the ministerial decree of 28 October 2020 on emergency measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19).
As compensation for the end of this second moratorium, the federal government implemented a reform based on 3 pillars in order to make the access to the procedure for judicial reorganisation more flexible. First, the procedure was simplified by no longer requiring enterprises to immediately submit 11 documents, but only 3. The remaining documents can be provided during the procedure. Second, the procedure no longer requires a publication in the Belgian Official Journal. This enables the mediator to meet with the creditors in complete discretion and thus prevent them from demanding a rapid repayment of their claims before an agreement has been reached. Third, the procedure for judicial reorganisation by amicable agreement is encouraged by a tax exemption which, until then, only applied to procedures for judicial reorganisation by court order. The provisions relating to the first two pillars of the reform would initially be in force up to and including 30 June 2021, but were extended until 16 July 2022 by the Royal Decree of 24 June 2021 extending Articles 2, 4 and 12 of the law of 21 March 2021 amending Book XX of the Code of Economic Law and the Income Tax Code 1992.
Between these two moratoriums, the FPS Finance and the NSSO spared, by a de facto moratorium, enterprises by not declaring them bankrupt due to tax and social debts. This arrangement remained in force after 1 February 2021, until the NSSO resumed issuing summons from October 2021 and the tax authorities in various provinces around March 2022.
Moreover, there is the judicial recess in July and August. Courts remain open during this period, but the number of hearings is reduced. This is why our figures on bankruptcies are usually lower during this period.
Moreover, several measures were in force - at federal, regional and local level - to support enterprises during the Covid-19 crisis period. For example, the NSSO granted amicable payment plans with a maximum duration of 24 months for the payment of all contributions and sums due for the year 2020. And at the level of the National Employment Office, the entire temporary unemployment due to the coronavirus or the conflict in Ukraine could be considered as temporary unemployment due to force majeure ‘corona’ until 30 June 2022.
Finally, support measures were in force until 31 March 2023 to support companies during the energy crisis. At the level of the NSSO, enterprises could apply for an amicable payment plan, among other things, while energy-intensive companies could make use of a special system of temporary unemployment due to economic causes for energy-intensive companies.
All these public measures described above have had a moderating impact on the number of bankruptcies declared since March 2020.