São Paulo – The number of enterprises that did not honour their debts increased by 18.8% in March compared with the same month of last year. It was the highest ever increase in the March-on-March comparison, according to the Serasa Experian Corporate Insolvency Indicator. Compared with February, corporate insolvency went up by 1.6%. From January to March, the rate increased by 21.1% in relation to the same period of 2011.
According to Serasa figures, in the first quarter, the average value of non—bank debt (credit cards, financing firms, stores in general, and suppliers of services such as telephony, electric power, and water) was 783.40 reals (US$ 414.8), a figure 3.4% higher than in the same period of last year.
To the Serasa Experian economists, the result in March was strongly influenced by the higher number of working days during the month, and the Carnival holiday in February. “Due to those, many insolvency cases that took place in February were accounted for in March, which drove the indicator up. Furthermore, increased consumer insolvency and corporate credit at still-high interest rates also placed pressure on insolvency,” the economists claim.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
