There were 61 insolvencies nationwide in June, down from 139 in the same month last year.
A sharp decline in South Africans going bankrupt has gone largely unnoticed after the country’s insolvency statistics disappeared for almost five years following the Department of Justice cyberattack.
Statistics South Africa has resumed publishing its standalone insolvency statistics after the series was delayed by the September 2021 cyber incident at the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, which disrupted the department’s ability to supply the information needed to compile the release.
The agency cautioned that the new series should not be treated as a continuation of the previous one because of a break in the data between September 2021 and December 2022.
An insolvency refers to an individual or partnership that is unable to pay its debts and is placed under final sequestration by a court. The agency said the figures are widely used by both the public and private sectors to measure economic performance and are “an important indicator of the scope of unpaid debt in South Africa”.
