Business failures have increased by 36,8% in the 2nd quarter of 2021 compared to the 2nd quarter of 2020 in the overseas territories and 13% for the whole of France, but these developments largely reflect a “base effect”, underlines Iédom. Containment having started from March 17, 2020 in the overseas communities of the euro zone (March 20 in French Polynesia and March 24 in New Caledonia), the activity of the commercial courts was suspended from the second half of March 2020. The unusually reduced number of failures declared in the 2nd quarter of 2020 therefore results in a lower base, the increase appearing in 2021 does not necessarily signal a higher number of failures than usual. Fact, the number of failures in the 2nd quarter of 2021 remains significantly lower than those observed for the same periods of 2018 and 2019. Cumulative over one year, business failures drop by 4,1%, as of June 30, 2021, in Overseas. Which does not mean a reduction in the number of companies in difficulty, adds the Emission Institute. The drop rather reflects the effects of the confinement period on the functioning of commercial jurisdictions, but also “the effect of all the support measures providing cash flow assistance or allowing businesses to reduce or delay the payment of certain charges”. However, different variations are recorded from one overseas territory to another.. Over a year, the number of business failures (511) thus progresses by 6,5% in Réunion and increases much more strongly than the average during the 2nd quarter alone (+64,9%).
Health crisis : varied effects on business failures
