The number of corporate bankruptcies fell in February from a month earlier as the local economy is on the recovery track, the central bank said Thursday.

Sixty-eight companies went bankrupt in February, down from 88 tallied in January, according to the Bank of Korea.

In December, the number of corporate bankruptcies reached 68, the lowest in six months, it added.

The number of bankruptcies in the service sector fell by 13 on-month to 27 in February, and in the construction industry declined by five to 11.

The number of newly established companies came in at 6,636 last month, down 294 from the previous month.

The default rate of corporate bills ― bonds, checks and promissory notes ― reached 0.2 percent in February, up from 0.17 percent in the previous month. (Yonhap)