11,000 small business bankruptcies in Belgium in 2012

More than 11,000 small and medium-sized businesses went bankrupt in Belgium last year, up by 5 percent from 2011, the Graydon research bureau reports. More than 900 businesses went under in December alone and records for bankruptcies were set in 10 of the 12 months of 2012. Most of the businesses that declared bankruptcy are restaurants, cafes and construction firms; 22,000 people lost their jobs as a result. Graydon forecasts more than 12,000 bankruptcies in the small and medium-sized private sector for the coming year.