HONG KONG, Feb 14: Hong Kong’s personal bankruptcies in January soared 20.1 per cent from the month before to a record 3,193 amid the economic downturn, government figures showed on Friday.

But the Official Receiver’s Office said the number of bankruptcy applications fell to 2,099 cases in January, down from 2,111 in December.

The number of personal bankruptcies rose nearly three-fold last year to 25,328 from 9,151 cases a year earlier as the global economic slowdown continued to take its toll on the city.

Paul Thurston, acting chairman of Hong Kong Association of Banks, said it was “too early to say” the number of bankruptcies in Hong Kong had peaked.

He said other factors, including the employment situation in Hong Kong, are likely to affect the number of bankruptcies.

Thurston said the slight improvement may not necessarily mean an actual improvement in bankruptcy conditions.

He said he believes that the rise in the number of bankruptcies in 2002 from 2001 would have led to higher bad debt among banks. Hong Kong’s economy is tipped to have grown a modest 2.0 percent in 2002, up from 0.1 per cent in 2001.

The slowdown has seen the unemployment rate surpass levels reached during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis to hit a record high of 7.8 per cent in July last year before falling back to 7.1 per cent.—AFP