Japanese Bankruptcies, highest since WW II

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Japan's Bankruptcy Debt Rise Debts Racked Up by Japanese Corporate Bankruptcies Total 7.21 Trillion Yen ($58 Billion) This Year TOKYO (AP) -- Debts racked up by Japanese corporate bankruptcies totaled 7.21 trillion yen ($58 billion) for the six months ending in June, the second highest total since the end of World War II, private credit research agency Teikoku Databank said Friday.

The amount was 3.7 percent higher than the 6.95 trillion yen ($56 billion) for the same period a year ago, while bankruptcy cases increased 1.3 percent to 9,427 from 9,304.

The debt total was the second highest for the first half of the year after the record 9.17 yen ($74 billion) posted in 1999, Teikoku Databank said.

The figures underline the nation's deteriorating economic problems, as corporate profits sink, exports fall and consumer spending remains flat.

The picture could get worse as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi moves ahead on promises to clean up bad debts at the nation's banks and embark on painful reforms to revive the economy.

``Banks are already speeding up the rate at which they cut off companies within limits tolerable for them,'' Teikoku Databank said in its monthly report. ``A rush of small company failures is unavoidable.''

The companies that failed in the first half had employed 83,845 people, Teikoku said.

Personal Note: Higher unemployment, less buying of our goods from the Japanese. Taiwan and Singapores stock market are already at 52 week lows. I predict a worsening of the Asian sector economy. Of course American anal-ysts keep on saying we've reached the bottom. Just think all of 2001 will be the "bottom".

-- Guy Daley (guydaley1@netzero.net), July 13, 2001


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