Asia: Japanese bankruptcies falling, but still high.Things are looking better in Japan, but the sun, while rising, isn't high in the sky. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Teikoku Databank America, which tracks bankruptcies in Japan, 16,624 Japanese firms declared bankruptcy in 2003, 14.6 percent fewer than in 2002. [GRAPHIC OMITTED] Better yet, the last time the number decreased compared to the previous year was four years earlier, and the bankruptcy rolls fell for 12 consecutive months in 2003. Why? Teikoku cited "institutional financial support [from] the government, a decreasing number of promissory notes promissory note, unconditional written promise to pay a certain sum of money at a definite time to bearer or to a specified person on his order. Promissory notes are generally used as evidence of debt. due to the credit crunch Credit Crunch An economic condition whereby investment capital is difficult to obtain. Banks and investors become weary of lending funds to corporations thereby driving up the price of debt products for borrowers. and avoidance of bankruptcy risk Bankruptcy Risk The risk that a company will be unable to meet its debt obligations. Often referred to as "default" or "insolvency risk". Notes: This is a risk that both equity- and bondholders take when deciding to invest in a company. , with controlling investment for new business or facilities." Still, the research firm added, "small and medium-sized companies are still struggling with [a] sales decrease and deflation deflation: see inflation. deflation Contraction in the volume of available money or credit that results in a general decline in prices. A less extreme condition is known as disinflation. . It is difficult to say that fundamental risks have been cleared." Manufacturing witnessed the greatest sector improvement, Teikoku found, with the number of bankruptcies falling to 811, 23.8 percent less than the previous year. Additionally, the construction, wholesale, transportation, communication, real estate and manufacturing sectors recorded significant improvements, the firm found, while the service sector recorded the second largest number of bankruptcies, 2, 134. "Despite the large bankruptcies seen in bubble companies, golf and resort businesses, there were no mega-bankruptcies with over 500 billion Japanese yen “Yen” redirects here. For the other use, see Yen (disambiguation). “JPY” redirects here. For the Australian singer with the same moniker, see John Paul Young. [in] liabilities," Teikoku noted. "This means that the problems with non-performing loans on [some] big companies have not been settled yet." |
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