Business-related bankruptcies drop in New Mexico

New Mexico's business-related bankruptcies dropped to a six-year low during the 12 months ending with September.

The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/ZlyT1V) that petitions were filed for 185 bankruptcies in which the majority of the debt was from business activities.

That's a 19 percent drop from 229 petitions with mostly business debt over the same federal fiscal year period in 2010-11.

Business-related bankruptcies across the country dropped about 16 percent over the same period.

The 185 filings statewide was the lowest number of business-related bankruptcies since 127 were filed in the 2006-07 fiscal year.

The drop in business-related bankruptcies could be a sign of a stabilizing economy, although many bankruptcy experts point to tighter credit standards as the reason.