NUMBER OF BANKRUPTCIES IN FEBRUARY BROKE THE RECORD IN JAPAN

The Japanese economy is going through hard times. The fall in the country's GDP by more than a quarter on an annualized basis makes it necessary to look for ways out. However, the situation, as experts say, may be complicated by the mass closures of enterprises, liquidations and bankruptcies caused by the pandemic. According to the Japanese agency Jiji Press, February broke the record for the number of companies to be closed due to COVID-19.

The reason for such a "record", according to analysts, was the actions of the Japanese authorities, which declared a state of emergency in ten prefectures in early January this year. On their territory, the sale of alcoholic beverages was prohibited after 7 pm, and all restaurant-type enterprises were forced to close earlier every day (after 20.00). The consequences appeared already in February: 126 organizations were closed.

Compared to the regular monthly closings of about 100 companies, this growth has been quite significant. It even surpassed the October peak when 113 companies were closed. Then this could be explained by the beginning of the second wave of the spread of the disease in Japan, because of which the authorities had to take unpopular measures. The borders of the state were closed, a state of emergency was introduced, and subsidies to the economy from the budget were substantially canceled, which caused the rating of the Japanese government to rapidly decline.

According to the representatives of the Tokyo Shoko analytical agency, February 2021 became the most critical in terms of the number of bankruptcies caused by the spread of COVID-19 and restrictive measures to counter the disease.

We should recall that such cases began to be registered a year ago, in February 2020, even before the WHO announced a pandemic. Over the past period, 1108 enterprises were declared insolvent in Japan because of this.

Experts call the current situation in Japan unique in the history of the post-World War II. It is not yet known whether the state will resume subsidizing programs for a number of sectors of the national economy, which were canceled earlier.