A total of 18,928 companies went bankrupt in the 2002 business year, down 5.6 percent from a year earlier and the first decline in two years, Teikoku Databank Ltd. said Monday.

Even so, the figure was the fourth largest since World War II, holding steady above the 18,000 mark for the third consecutive year, the private credit-research agency said.

The failed firms left liabilities totaling some 13.31 trillion yen, down 17.5 percent from the previous year but still the fifth largest in the postwar period, it said.

"The latest data show the number of bankruptcies stayed high, with the potential to increase," Teikoku Databank said in a report covering failures involving liabilities of 10 million yen or more.

The report says a series of large-scale bankruptcies of golf courses and other leisure-related businesses, as well as listed firms, increased the total liabilities.

By industry, failures in the services sector hit a record high of 2,263 in 2002, while retail-sector failures totaled 2,754, the third largest figure on record.

A record 22 listed firms went bust, one more than in the previous year. Among them were midsize construction contractors Dai Nippon Construction and Kokune Corp., paper maker Nippon Kakoh Seishi Co. and machine-tool maker Hitachi Seiki Co.

A total of 14,537 firms failed due to the recession -- defined by poor sales and exports, difficulties recovering sales credits or an industry slump -- the second highest figure since the war. The figure accounted for 76.8 percent of all failures, also a postwar record.

Of all companies that failed during the year, 5,060, or 26.7 percent, had been in business for at least 30 years.