S. Korean corporate failures hits 4-month low in June

SEOUL, July 19 (Yonhap) -- The number of South Korean corporate bankruptcies fell to the lowest level in four months in June as companies' funding situations remained in good shape, the central bank said Tuesday.
The number of companies that went belly-up totaled 109 in June, down 14 from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The June reading marked the lowest level since a record low of 99 tallied in February.
Meanwhile, the number of newly established companies came in at 5,987 in June, up 798 from the previous month and the largest reading since the 6,016 seen in March 2002, it added.
The default rate of corporate bills -- bonds, checks and promissory notes -- reached 0.04 percent in June, up 0.02 percentage point from the previous month, the BOK said.
The BOK upped its projection of the country's inflation rate to 4 percent this year from an earlier estimate of 3.9 percent. It also lowered the growth forecast to 4.3 percent in 2011 from 4.5 percent, but said that the local economy remains on the solid recovery track.