Japan's 'zombie' companies jump 30% after COVID debt buildup

TOKYO -- Japan's ranks of financially unsound "zombie" companies swelled about 30% on the year to an 11-year high of around 250,000 in fiscal 2022, as businesses kept afloat through the pandemic by government support now grapple with heavy debt loads.

The share of businesses that have fallen into zombie status, defined as being unable to cover interest payments on their debt from their profits, rose 3.6 percentage points to 17.1%, according to research company Teikoku Databank.