The number of South Korean firms that declared bankruptcy sharply dropped last year.

According to the Bank of Korea(BOK), 516 corporate entities and 204 individual businesses went belly up in 2015, amounting to a total of 720 bankruptcies.

The figure is 121 firms fewer or 14 percent down compared to 2014.

It also marked the lowest since related data began to be compiled in 1990.

The BOK attributed the decrease to less use of promissory notes in corporate trading and the continuation of low interest rates.