Outstanding claims from insolvency creditors amount to 34 billion euros this year, up from 23.5 billion last year, Creditreform said. The number of employees affected by insolvencies has risen to 332,000 from 218,000 in 2019, it added.

Patrik-Ludwig Hantzsch, head of economic research at Creditreform, predicted a sharp rise in corporate insolvencies next year to around 24,000, the highest level since 2014.

(Reporting by Alexander Huebner; Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Riham Alkousaa)