Bankruptcies in July fall for 19th straight month.

Japan Weekly Monitor, August, 2004

TOKYO, Aug. 13 Kyodo

The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan dropped 16.8 percent in July from a year earlier to 1,151, down for the 19th straight month, a private-sector corporate credit research agency said Friday.

Combined debts left by failed companies fell 13.6 percent to 605.34 billion yen, remaining below 1 trillion yen for the fourth month in a row, Teikoku Databank said in its monthly report covering failures with debts of 10 million yen or more.

The decline in the number of failures is attributable mainly to improved business performances in the private sector and a pickup in private consumption stemming from such factors as increasing demand for digital home electronics, Teikoku Databank said.

A rise in domestic...