Canadian bankruptcies jump 31 percent

OTTAWA, July 7 (UPI) -- The year-over-year rate of overall bankruptcy filings in Canada jumped 31 percent in May, the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy reported Tuesday.

In all, there were 10,364 bankruptcy filings, 9,900 by consumers and 464 by businesses in the country of 33.5 million people, the report said.

Consumer bankruptcies were 34.4 percent higher than May of last year, which was tempered by 16.2 percent fewer business failures, the report said.

By region, oil-rich Alberta has seen an 82.4 percent hike in all bankruptcies in the 12 months to May, led largely by personal insolvencies.

By sector, the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting failure rate was up 30 percent for the 12-month period, followed by hikes in mining and retail bankruptcies, the agency said.