Spain woes: Bankruptcies at record level

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IANS/EFE | 07 Aug, 2012
A record 2,272 Spanish individuals and firms declared bankruptcy in the second quarter, up 28.6 percent from the same period in 2011, the National Statistics Institute, or INE, said.

Failing businesses accounted for all of the increase, as personal bankruptcies fell by 12 percent.

Spain had 6,755 bankruptcies in 2011, the highest annual total since the INE began keeping records, and an increase of 13.3 percent over the previous year.

Nearly 31 percent of all the firms that declared bankruptcy in the second quarter were in construction, which continues to shrink as Spain struggles with a double-dip recession and the bursting of a decade-long housing bubble.

Small and medium-sized companies, defined as those with annual turnover of less than 2 million euros ($2.48 million), represented 70 percent of the business bankruptcies in the April-June period.

Spain's jobless rate stands at 24.6 percent overall and more than 53 percent among people under 25.