In 2013, German courts had reported a total of 141,332 bankruptcy cases, down by 6 percent compared with 2012, and the lowest annual figure since 1996, the country's statistics office, Destatis, announced Wednesday.

The insolvencies incurred combined losses to the tune of 37.8 billion euros ($52.3 billion) which was 13.9 billion euros less than in the previous year, Destatis said.

In broken down figures, Destatis put the figure for corporate and business failures to 25,995 cases, down by 2,302 or 8.1 percent.

Court-ordered insolvencies of private people amounted to 91,200 cases, which was 6.6 percent fewer than in 2012, the data showed. Other types of insolvencies accounted for the rest of the tally.

While business failures had slumped for the fourth consecutive year, private insolvencies went down for the third year in a row.

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Unlike many of its fellow eurozone partners, Germany has escaped the ravages of economic recession in the wake of the 2009 sovereign debt crisis. Europe's biggest economy has maintained steady growth, supporting businesses and the jobs market.

Despite higher growth predicted for 2014, the number of insolvencies, however, is expected to rise this year. Experts saycut-thoat competition in the retail and online business sector has reduced margins to an extent at which more businesses will likely fold in the course of the year.

uhe/hc (dpa, Reuters)