German corporate bankruptcies up 12 pct in August

BERLIN

The number of German companies filing for bankruptcy protection was up 12.3 percent on the year in August, even as the economy slowly emerged from recession, official data showed Friday.

Courts registered 2,619 bankruptcy filings in August, the Federal Statistical Office said. Over the first eight months of the year, 21,807 bankruptcies were registered.

Germany's export-fueled economy, Europe's biggest, returned to modest growth in the second quarter following a deep recession. Preliminary third-quarter figures are due next week and are expected to show further growth.

However, the government and economists still are forecasting that gross domestic product will shrink by 5 percent this year as a whole compared with 2008.

Also Friday, the statistical office said German production of pig iron was down 16.8 percent on the year in October and production of raw steel fell 11 percent.

However, compared with the previous months, the figures were up 12.5 percent and 8.6 percent respectively.