(Hong Kong) – The number of bankruptcies in Hong Kong has stayed high during April as the economy struggles to emerge from recession.With a recorded 1,769 personal and corporate bankruptcies last month, down only slightly from 1,790 cases reported in March and up a huge 265 percent from the same month 2001, Hong Kong will likely break the record bankruptcies of 9,151 of last year.
Banks are partly to blame for this in trying to offset weak mortgage demand by aggressively increasing consumer lending and give-away credit cards marketing.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has reported that credit card write-off rate reached nine percent in February relative to 8.27 percent in the fourth quarter of 2001.