TORONTO, May 19 (UPI) -- Corporate bankruptcies in Canada are defying the global recession, falling 4.4 percent from the previous year, a CIBC World Markets report said Tuesday.
"On a year-over-year basis, bankruptcies fell by no less than 14 percent during the first three months of 2009," the report issued in Toronto said.
CIBC senior economist Benjamin Tal said with the exception of the business services, wholesale trade and manufacturing sectors, in all other sectors, bankruptcies were down.
"This trajectory is completely inconsistent with both the experience seen in any other recession and the current situation in the United States, where business bankruptcies are rising at a rate not seen since 1975," said Tal.
The CIBC research found business bankruptcies rose quickly in both the 1982 and 1991 recessions, reaching close to 50 percent year-over-year growth rates, the release said.
Tal expressed optimism with the undisclosed number of companies going under, saying "the resiliency of business bankruptcies bodes well for the recovery in the labor market in 2010."
As of March, the number of personal bankruptcies in Canada rose by 57 percent on a year-over-year basis, CIBC said.
