Romania and Hungary saw the greatest number of companies filing for bankruptcy last year among the countries in central and eastern Europe, a research by Koface Bulgaria revealed. The number of insolvent companies there last year stood at respectively 7,434 and 5,067, which is down from 10,431 and 9,575 in 2006.

Number three is the Czech Republic where 1,069 companies became insolvent last year (still down from 1,866 in 2006).

The top 5 also includes Latvia and Slovenia, while Bulgaria is ninth with 240 bankruptcies.

2007 was the fourth year in row in which the agricultural sector topped the chart of insolvency cases in Bulgaria (22.5% of all).

The second riskiest sector seems to be that of retail trade (nearly 16% of all), construction is third.

The least number of insolvency filings last year were reported in Poland and Estonia – 210 and 197 respectively.

Country200720061Romania7434104312Hungary506795753Czech Republic106918664Latvia7856545Slovakia52017216Lithuania4083557Slovenie3205828Croatia2716249Bulgaria24018310Poland21057611Estonia197170