Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- As a result of the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies in the United States have already defaulted and are in the process of bankruptcy.

According to the Financial Times, as of 20 August 2020. a record number of large companies (45) with total assets exceeding US$1 billion applied for protection from creditors. At the height of the global economic crisis in 2009, there were 38 such companies, and in 2019 only 18 large companies went bankrupt. Attention is drawn to the following points.

First, the brunt of the bankruptcy cycle has been in the oil and gas sector. Thirty-three oil and gas companies have already applied for protection from creditors, including such large ones as Chesapeake, Whiting Petroleum and Diamond Offshore Drilling. For comparison, there were only 14 bankruptcies in the sector for the whole of 2019.

Secondly, the retail sector (retail sale of goods and services), where the bankruptcies of 24 companies with assets exceeding US$50 million have already been recorded. This sector suffered the greatest losses from quarantine due to the transition of consumers to online shopping. Compared to 2019, there was a threefold increase in defaults in this industry. Among the retail companies are such well-known companies as Neiman Marcus, JCPenney, which went bankrupt in June of this year. due to debts of US$6.7 billion.

Experts do not rule out that large retail, energy and transport companies will resort to the protection of the federal bankruptcy law in order to restructure and become more profitable in the long term. 157 companies, whose debts exceed US$150 million, have already applied to the 11th article of the law "On bankruptcy". Bankruptcy, in accordance with the 11th article of this law, allows the debtor to partially retain property and use future income to pay off creditors.

In general, the package of financial support for the US economy in the amount of more than 2 trillion. dollars could not prevent the outbreak of bankruptcies. On the other hand, huge financial resources aimed at supporting individual enterprises have strengthened the monopoly position of large enterprises. As the COVID-19 pandemic deepens in the United States, the bankruptcy crisis will continue to spread to all sectors of the economy.