Between January and October this year, 988 businesses were declared bust, compared to 1,047 in 2019--a record year--and 936 in 2018. October's 132 bankruptcies compared to 125 the same month last year.

Even though there is no obvious impact of the pandemic at first glance, sectors most affected by lockdown measures were also those filing for bankruptcy at greater rates. These included 169 retailers and 98 construction companies.

The numbers were equivalent to 2.5% of hospitality businesses--including hotels, restaurants, cafés and bars--closing down, 2.5% of construction companies and 2.3% of retailers.

Around 900 jobs were lost in the first half of the year through bankruptcy, the government statement said, compared to 1,009 in 2019 and 1,043 the year before. The biggest sector losses were in non-financial services and construction.

The government meanwhile also announced that it wanted to keep better track of the bankruptcy statistics, including the age of the company, number of employees and reason for folding, to publish more detailed results in regular intervals.