German business bankruptcies rose 16 per cent last year in another token of the country's gloomy economy, government data showed.
The 37,579 business failures reported by the government statistical agency were the most since German reunification in 1990 merged West Germany with the economically desolate East Germany
Last year's rise from 32,278 in 2001 coincided with economic growth of 0.2 per cent, too slow to create jobs or keep many businesses from failing. It was the worst performance since a 1.3 per cent drop in 1993 and followed anaemic 0.6 per cent growth in 2001.
Some of Germany's best-known companies collapsed in 2002, including most of the Kirch Group media empire, airplane maker Fairchild Dornier and construction company Philipp Holzmann.
The wave of failures has proved a major burden to the country's banks, which are bearing increasing amounts of bad loans.
