There were 857 bankruptcy petitions presented in Hong Kong in March, up 33.9 percent from February' 640 petitions, a government press release said Friday.

But the figure dropped 17.7 percent compared with the average monthly figure of 1,041 in 2004, the Official Receiver's Office of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government said in the press release.

The court made 1,151 bankruptcy orders in March, up 64.9 percent from the previous month's figure of 698, and a rise of 1.6 percent from the average monthly figure of 1,133 in 2004, according to the office.

In the first three months of 2005, a total of 2,397 bankruptcy petitions were presented, a drop of 31.7 percent over the same period last year. The court made a total of 2,701 bankruptcy orders, down 42.4 percent over the same period in 2004.

Source: Xinhua