A weak economy and high interest rates caused many German companies to slide into insolvency at the end of 2023, the German statistics office said on Friday.

The number of insolvencies filed rose by 12.3% in December compared to the same month in the previous year, the office said.

"Double-digit year-on-year growth rates have thus been observed consistently since June 2023," it said of the insolvency data. In November, there was an increase of 18.8% on the year.

From January to October 2023, the number of corporate insolvencies rose by 24.1% to 14,751, data from the statistics office showed.

"We expect the figures to continue to rise in the coming months," said insolvency expert Steffen Mueller from the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).

(Reporting by Rene Wagner, writing by Maria Martinez, editing by Rachel More)