Corporate bankruptcies were off 7.4 percent in February for the second straight month of decline on a year-on-year basis, but liabilities left by the failed firms jumped 20.6 percent, Teikoku Databank Ltd. said Friday.
The private credit-research agency said there were 1,586 business failures, with combined liabilities of 1.53 trillion yen, the largest amount for a February since World War II.
The number of bankruptcies shows wild fluctuations with the potential to increase, Teikoku Databank said in a monthly report covering failures involving firms with liabilities of 10 million yen or more each.
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