SEOUL, March 19 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's corporate bankruptcies fell to a record low last month as business days declined due to the Lunar New Year's holiday, central bank data showed Tuesday.
The number of companies that went belly-up decreased 18 from a month earlier to 85 in February, according to the Bank of Korea ( BOK). The reading was the lowest since the bank began compiling the data in January 1990.
The record low figure came after the Lunar New Year's holiday moved to February this year from January last year, reducing working days last month.
The number of failure in the manufacturing industry dropped by 13 last month, with the figures for the service and construction sectors falling by 3 and 1 respectively.
The number of newly established firms tumbled 1,246 from a month before to 5,692 in February. The ratio of start-ups to company failures was 101.6 last month, up from 95 tallied in the prior month.
The default rate on corporate bills, including bonds, checks and promissory notes, came in at 0.09 percent last month, down 0. 05 percentage point from the previous month.
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