A total of 5,558 Belgian companies declared bankruptcy in the first half of 2012, up 3 percent from a year earlier, De Tijd reported, without saying where it got the information.

In June alone, 990 Belgian businesses went bankrupt, the worst figure for the month in recent decades, according to the newspaper.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer M. Freedman in Geneva at jfreedman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net