Madrid, Mar 21 (IANS): Families and firms in Spain declaring bankruptcy rose by 27.1 percent in 2012 in comparison with 2011, according to data published by the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE).

According to the INE, 2012 saw 8,726 bankruptcies, with companies most affecting as 7,799 enterprises declared bankruptcy: a 32-percent increase on 2011, while 927 families were also declared bankrupt, a fall of 2.7 percent, reported Xinhua.

The INE said that 8,222 of the bankruptcies were voluntary, which is up 27 percent in comparison with 2011, while 504 were forced, which meant a 30.2 percent increase on 2011's figures.

Companies in the building sector suffered the most, accounting for 30.1 percent of the total, while energy firms made up 18.5 percent of the total.

The INE also said that 23.8 percent of the bankrupt firms had been in operation for at least 20 years, while 9.9 percent of the bankrupt firms were four years or less with the catering industry representing 25.8 percent.

This serves to show how the crisis is affecting companies all across the spectrum in Spain, while highlighting the problems of those looking to start a new company in times when it is also difficult to get effective credit lines from banks.

This is the first time the INE has published an annual report on bankruptcies, which is based on annual data of 2012 while also taking into account development over the last five years.

One small ray of hope for companies was provided Wednesday with the news that the cost of electricity will fall by around 7 percent as of April 1 following tariff auction.