Singapore’s bankruptcy applications last year fell to the lowest level since 1996 as the city- state’s economy rebounded, posting the world’s fastest growth after Qatar.

The number of bankruptcy filings dropped 20% to 2,202 in 2010 from a year earlier, according to data on the Ministry of Law’s website. Bankruptcy applications last year were less than half of the 5,404 cases at the peak in 2003.

“It’s another bright sign of economy recovering strongly from the downturn,” said David Cohen, head of Asian forecasting at Action Economics in Singapore. “It should be fairly solid this year, which should be supportive of the financial situation,” he said, forecasting the economy will expand 5% in 2011.

Singapore’s economic growth reached 14.7% last year as manufacturing surged, capping the biggest annual increase in output since independence in 1965. The growth rate trails only Qatar globally, according to International Monetary Fund estimates.

Singapore’s jobless rate fell to 2.1% at the end of September, the smallest in Asia after Thailand. The city’s average wages before adjusting for inflation rose 5.4% in the third quarter from a year earlier.

The bankruptcy filings last year were the lowest since 2,089 applications were filed in 1996, one year before the start of the Asian financial crisis.