registering a fall of 38.4% in March and insolvency declarations fell by 43.1 percent compared to February.
The April data however shows a 59.4 % increase compared to the same month of 2008. The total number of insolvencies declared in April (2009) was 287, the lowest number for the whole year and one would need to go back to June 2008 to find the lower number of 195. The real estate sector was the only one that registered less Judicial Bodies of Creditors than those in April of 2008 with 11 declarations of bankruptcy, which represented a reduction of 15.4 percent. Meanwhile the construction sector, with 64 insolvencies, continued to be affected with a 52.4 percent increase compared to the same month of 2008. In a worse position were the wholesale trade and intermediaries of commerce with 40 Judicial Bodies of Creditors, 66.7 percent more than in 2008 and the specialized construction sector with 29, an increase of 163.6 percent. Catalonia returned to head the April ranking with 82 Bodies of Creditors, an increase of 67.3% with respect to April 2008. The Community of Madrid was second with 43 companies taking refuge in this procedure, a 95.5% increase compared to 2008. The Valencian community with 35 Judicial Bodies of Creditors (+75%), Andalucía with 23 (+27.8%) and the Basque country with 19 (+46.2%) completes the list respectively.
