Bankruptcies among companies less than five years old in Luxembourg rose by almost a third during the first quarter of the year but it is unclear why, a politician has said.

Secretary of State for the Economy Francine Closener would not speculate on the cause of the trend when asked about it in a parliamentary question.

“To know why there is a growing number of bankruptcies in companies aged five or less, we would have to conduct a specific study,” she responded in writing.

However, Closener did reveal figures showing that bankruptcies in general have been rising steadily over the past two years. In 2014, 850 firms were declared bankrupt, rising to 873 in 2015.

No public data was available for the start of 2016, Closener said, despite the claim by Félix Eischen and Françoise Hetto that bankruptcies of firms aged less than five years had risen 30 percent in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015.

Worst affected sectors

The sectors most affected by bankruptcies in Luxembourg in 2015 were financial and insurance activities (156 bankruptcies), followed by food and beverages (horeca – 125) and construction (124).

At the same time, company creation in Luxembourg is growing steadily with 3,477 companies created in 2014, up from 3,368 the year before.

Data from STATEC shows that the service sector is where creation of companies is strongest (3,111) while industry is retreating (39 down from 55) and construction is stagnating (327 from 310).