6,000 companies went bankrupt, or were forcibly closed down last year. It represented an increase of 4.9%, but was fewer than feared.
‘The oil crisis did enough damage for us to expect a larger increase in 2016 than what we are seeing with the gold standard in hand’, said credit
economist, Per Einar Ruud, of analysis company Bisnode to Dagens Næringsliv newspaper.
‘It looked very ugly for business, but fortunately the curve flattened out in the autumn. Major oil companies made sharp cuts, but it didn’t lead
to a big ‘bankruptcy avalanche’ yet’, said Ruud.
According to figures from the Brønnøysund Register Center (Brønnøysundregistrene), Oslo emerged at the top on the bankruptcy list.
The increase was greatest in Oslo, twice as large as in the oil county of Rogaland. Bankruptcy in Nordland and Sogn og Fjordane had decreased.
The Hotel and Restaurant industry had the largest growth in declared bankruptcies, but most businesses in the construction industry were hit.
‘This is a paradox, when we hear that Norwegian hotels and restaurants had the benefits of a weak Norwegian krone and that there was increased
tourism, and that the construction industry was experiencing high house prices and strong demand in 2016’, said Ruud.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
