Closing a Business

This topic identifies weaknesses in existing bankruptcy law and the main procedural and administrative bottlenecks in the bankruptcy process.

The table below shows the main indicators. They include:

average time to complete a procedure,
cost of the bankruptcy proceedings, and
the recovery rate, which calculates how many cents on the dollar claimants (creditors, tax authorities, and employees) recover from an insolvent firm.

"No practice" means that there have been less than 60 completed insolvency cases in the past 20 years. Click on column headers to sort data.

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Research

Debt Enforcement Around the World (PDF, 216 KB), by Djankov and others, Journal of Political Economy, Dec 2008.

Region or Economy	Recovery rate (cents on the dollar)	Time (years)	Cost (% of estate)
Sub-Saharan Africa	17.0	3.4	20.1
South Asia	20.4	4.5	6.5
OECD	68.6	1.7	8.4
Middle East & North Africa	29.9	3.5	14.1
Latin America & Caribbean	26.8	3.3	15.9
Eastern Europe & Central Asia	31.6	2.9	13.5
East Asia & Pacific	28.4	2.7	23.2
Zimbabwe	0.0	3.3	22
Zambia	30.2	2.7	9
Yemen, Rep.	28.6	3.0	8
West Bank and Gaza	0.0	no practice	no practice
Vietnam	18.0	5.0	15
Venezuela, R.B.	6.0	4.0	38
Vanuatu	41.2	2.6	38
Uzbekistan	18.7	4.0	10
Uruguay	43.0	2.1	7
United States	76.7	1.5	7
United Kingdom	84.2	1.0	6
United Arab Emirates	10.2	5.1	30
Ukraine	9.1	2.9	42
Uganda	41.1	2.2	30
Turkey	20.2	3.3	15
Tunisia	52.3	1.3	7
Trinidad and Tobago	0.0	no practice	no practice
Tonga	25.2	2.7	22
Togo	26.6	3.0	15
Timor-Leste	0.0	no practice	no practice
Thailand	42.4	2.7	36
Tanzania	21.3	3.0	22
Tajikistan	25.4	3.0	9
Taiwan, China	80.9	1.9	4
Syrian Arab Republic	29.5	4.1	9
Switzerland	46.8	3.0	4
Sweden	75.1	2.0	9
Swaziland	34.9	2.0	15
Suriname	8.1	5.0	30
Sudan	0.0	no practice	no practice
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	0.0	no practice	no practice
St. Lucia	42.9	2.0	9
St. Kitts and Nevis	0.0	no practice	no practice
Sri Lanka	43.4	1.7	5
Spain	73.2	1.0	15
South Africa	32.2	2.0	18
Solomon Islands	23.6	1.0	38
Slovenia	45.5	2.0	8
Slovak Republic	45.9	4.0	18
Singapore	91.3	0.8	1
Sierra Leone	8.5	2.6	42
Seychelles	0.0	no practice	no practice
Serbia	25.4	2.7	23
Senegal	31.6	3.0	7
Saudi Arabia	37.5	1.5	22
São Tomé and Principe	0.0	no practice	no practice
Samoa	14.3	2.5	38
Rwanda	0.0	no practice	no practice
Russian Federation	28.2	3.8	9
Romania	28.5	3.3	11
Qatar	52.7	2.8	22
Puerto Rico	55.2	3.8	8
Portugal	69.4	2.0	9
Poland	29.8	3.0	20
Philippines	4.4	5.7	38
Peru	25.4	3.1	7
Paraguay	20.7	3.9	9
Papua New Guinea	24.7	3.0	23
Panama	32.4	2.5	18
Palau	38.2	1.0	23
Pakistan	39.2	2.8	4
Oman	35.1	4.0	4
Norway	89.0	0.9	1
Nigeria	28.0	2.0	22
Niger	14.0	5.0	18
Nicaragua	34.3	2.2	15
New Zealand	76.2	1.3	4
Netherlands	82.7	1.1	4
Nepal	24.5	5.0	9
Namibia	39.5	1.5	15
Mozambique	15.2	5.0	9
Morocco	35.1	1.8	18
Montenegro	43.7	2.0	8
Mongolia	22.0	4.0	8
Moldova	28.6	2.8	9
Micronesia, Fed. Sts.	3.5	5.3	38
Mexico	64.2	1.8	18
Mauritius	33.6	1.7	15
Mauritania	6.7	8.0	9
Marshall Islands	17.9	2.0	38
Mali	20.9	3.6	18
Maldives	18.2	6.7	4
Malaysia	38.6	2.3	15
Malawi	17.5	2.6	25
Madagascar	0.0	no practice	no practice
Macedonia, FYR	20.9	2.9	28
Luxembourg	41.7	2.0	15
Lithuania	49.4	1.5	7
Liberia	8.3	3.0	43
Lesotho	33.9	2.6	8
Lebanon	19.0	4.0	22
Latvia	29.0	3.0	13
Lao PDR	0.0	no practice	no practice
Kyrgyz Republic	14.2	4.0	15
Kuwait	34.5	4.2	1
Kosovo	56.8	2.0	15
Korea, Rep.	80.5	1.5	4
Kiribati	0.0	no practice	no practice
Kenya	31.6	4.5	22
Kazakhstan	40.6	1.5	15
Jordan	27.3	4.3	9
Japan	92.5	0.6	4
Jamaica	64.5	1.1	18
Italy	56.6	1.8	22
Israel	44.9	4.0	23
Ireland	86.6	0.4	9
Iraq	0.0	no practice	no practice
Iran, Islamic Rep.	23.1	4.5	9
Indonesia	13.7	5.5	18
India	15.1	7.0	9
Iceland	76.6	1.0	4
Hungary	38.4	2.0	15
Hong Kong, China	79.8	1.1	9
Honduras	20.8	3.8	15
Haiti	2.7	5.7	30
Guyana	17.6	3.0	29
Guinea-Bissau	0.0	no practice	no practice
Guinea	22.0	3.8	8
Guatemala	28.2	3.0	15
Grenada	0.0	no practice	no practice
Greece	44.2	2.0	9
Ghana	24.0	1.9	22
Germany	52.2	1.2	8
Georgia	27.9	3.3	4
Gambia, the	19.5	3.0	15
Gabon	15.2	5.0	15
France	44.7	1.9	9
Finland	87.3	0.9	4
Fiji	20.1	1.8	38
Ethiopia	32.2	3.0	15
Estonia	37.5	3.0	9
Eritrea	0.0	no practice	no practice
Equatorial Guinea	0.0	no practice	no practice
El Salvador	30.8	4.0	9
Egypt, Arab Rep.	16.8	4.2	22
Ecuador	16.1	5.3	18
Dominican Republic	8.9	3.5	38
Dominica	0.0	no practice	no practice
Djibouti	15.9	5.0	18
Denmark	86.5	1.1	4
Czech Republic	20.9	6.5	15
Cyprus	70.7	1.5	15
Croatia	30.5	3.1	15
Côte d'Ivoire	34.0	2.2	18
Costa Rica	25.4	3.5	15
Congo, Rep.	20.4	3.0	24
Congo, Dem. Rep.	5.4	5.2	29
Comoros	0.0	no practice	no practice
Colombia	52.8	3.0	1
China	35.3	1.7	22
Chile	21.3	4.5	15
Chad	0.0	no practice	no practice
Central African Republic	0.0	4.8	76
Cape Verde	0.0	no practice	no practice
Canada	88.7	0.8	4
Cameroon	25.5	3.2	15
Cambodia	0.0	no practice	no practice
Burundi	0.0	no practice	no practice
Burkina Faso	21.7	4.0	9
Bulgaria	32.1	3.3	9
Brunei Darussalam	47.2	2.5	4
Brazil	17.1	4.0	12
Botswana	60.3	1.7	15
Bosnia and Herzegovina	35.9	3.3	9
Bolivia	37.3	1.8	15
Bhutan	0.0	no practice	no practice
Benin	16.7	4.0	22
Belize	63.4	1.0	23
Belgium	86.3	0.9	4
Belarus	33.4	5.8	22
Bangladesh	23.2	4.0	8
Bahrain	63.2	2.5	10
Bahamas, the	54.7	5.0	4
Azerbaijan	30.1	2.7	8
Austria	71.5	1.1	18
Australia	78.8	1.0	8
Armenia	41.8	1.9	4
Argentina	29.8	2.8	12
Antigua and Barbuda	35.5	3.0	7
Angola	10.0	6.2	22
Algeria	41.7	2.5	7
Albania	0.0	no practice	no practice
Afghanistan	0.0	no practice	no practice

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Closing a Business

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