Asia defies dire predictions of a massive spike in corporate bankruptcies

A feared wave of corporate bankruptcies has yet to materialize in Asia, due to a lot of help from policy makers.

If anything, the number of companies going out of business has decreased from last year in countries such as Japan and Singapore. That suggests that official measures to prevent corporate failures, in tandem with global stimulus of some $12 trillion, may be bearing fruit.

Lockdowns worldwide prompted by the coronavirus outbreak have wrecked economic growth and led to bankruptcies of firms from Brooks Brothers Group Inc. to Hertz Global Holdings Inc. and Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. But while Covid-19 has