The number of corporate bankruptcies fell by 14.6 percent in 2003 from the previous year to 16,624, down for the first time in four years, Teikoku Databank Ltd. said Monday.

Combined debts left by failed companies across the nation dropped 14.4 percent to 11.77 trillion yen for the third straight year of decline, the credit research firm said in a report covering failures involving liabilities of 10 million yen or more.

But the amount of debt was the seventh largest in the postwar period and still above the 10 trillion yen mark for the seventh year in a row, it said.

Teikoku Databank said the slowdown in the number of bankruptcies became significant as public assistance, including refinancing guaranties and special financing, is helping to keep the number from rising.

Bankruptcies showed year-on-year declines every month from January through December.

"Still, small and midsize companies are suffering from shrinking sales and falling prices, and we could not confidently say the critical situation was fundamentally over," Teikoku said.

By industry, declines in bankruptcies in the manufacturing sector stood out, dropping 23.8 percent from the previous year. By region, declines in the Kanto region, which includes Tokyo, were significant, with a 15.5 percent fall.

The number of failures of listed companies totaled 20 in 2003, the second largest after the 29 marked in 2002.

Of the 2003 total, 12,846 companies, or 77.3 percent, collapsed due to recession-linked factors, including poor sales and inflated bad loans.

Failures of companies that had been in business for 30 years or longer numbered 4,381, accounting for 26.4 percent of the total and the second highest on record.

In December alone, the number of corporate bankruptcies fell 24.6 percent from a year earlier to 1,174 for the 12th straight month of year-on-year decline.