GENEVA, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Switzerland had a record number of bankruptcy procedures opened in 2018, with almost 14,000 cases and a rise of 5.4 percent from the previous year, involving failed businesses and individuals, a government report said Thursday.

The record numbers, released the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), translate to overall financial losses of some 2 billion Swiss francs (2 billion U.S. dollars).

"At the same time, the amount of financial losses resulting from ordinary and summary bankruptcy proceedings has increased by nearly 20 percent," said the FSO.

Each of Switzerland's 26 cantons saw a rise in cases except Zurich, which had 24 fewer), the statistics office said.

Francophone regions in the southeast were particularly affected: notably Neuchatel (15.7 percent), Geneva (16.5 percent) and recorded a higher than the usual number of bankruptcies and losses while Jura canton was up by 25.5 percent.

The statistics office clarified that the figures did not take into consideration bankruptcy procedures relating to management shortcomings with such cases falling slightly last year, the Swiss news agency, Keystone-SDA reported.

It said the latest bankruptcy figures should not be conflated with a struggling economy, as growth in Switzerland remained steady rather than spectacular in 2018, while unemployment numbers sank to a 10-year low. Enditem

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