S. Korea`s biz failures down in Nov.

SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's corporate bankruptcies fell in November from a three-year high, but the deepening economic slump will worsen business conditions and spark more business failures, the central bank said Friday.
The number of business failures came to 297 last month, down 24 from the previous
month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The BOK attributed a fall in the country's corporate bankruptcies to the reduced
number of working days in November compared with those in October.
The number of start-ups, meanwhile, declined by 644 to 3,331 in November. The
ratio of start-ups to business failures reached 16.2 last month, marking the
lowest figure since December 2004 when the ratio came in at 14.9, it added.
The default rate of corporate bills -- bonds, checks and promissory notes --
remained steady at 0.03 percent in November, the BOK said.
The South Korean economy grew 0.5 percent in the third quarter from three months
earlier, the slowest growth in four years, as exports lost ground amid weakening
domestic demand.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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