During the first quarter of 2023 the number of bankruptcies in the Netherlands more than doubled, according to a new report by the NL Times on Sunday which cited data from the Faillissements Dossier.

The most affected businesses according to the report were restaurants, cafes, retail stores, and online retailers.

From January until March, 781 businesses and institutions went bankrupt, compared to 506 one year prior. Among the subset of cafes and restaurants, the number almost tripled, to 54.

The report cited sharp increases in energy prices and high inflation levels as the primary motivator driving the increase in bankruptcies in the Eurozone’s fifth-largest economy.

Last month, the Statistics Netherlands agency, (CBS) said it was going to change how it measured energy prices consumers paid, so as to improve its inflation estimates. According to CBS, it will now determine the real costs of energy for consumers by using transactional data straight from energy suppliers.

Atradius, the credit insurer, had forecast that over 4,000 Dutch companies could go bankrupt in 2023 due to the costs of energy, increasing interest rates, and high wage demand from workers.