Record number of new registrations

Deputy Commerce Minister Siriwat Kachornprasart yesterday said the number of new businesses should increase significantly in the coming months thanks to better economic circumstances and the positive outlook for domestic growth, despite the slowdown in the global economy.
Many new businesses are eyeing new investment, he said.
The department expects the number of new businesses to reach 60,000 this year, taking the number of active companies beyond 540,000.
The number of newly registered companies grew by 11 per cent to 5,014 last month.
However, the combined investment capital of new firms during the month stood at Bt28.99 billion, a drop of 36 per cent year on year, though an increase of 10 per cent over the July figure.
Most new businesses registered in August were in the fields of entertainment, construction and property development, advisers, retailing and wholesaling of construction materials, trading of machinery and electrical appliances, and restaurants.
In the first eight months of the year, the number of new companies dropped by 0.07 per cent to 41,292, because of the lingering effects on business of last year’s severe floods.
Last month, the number of closed-down businesses rose 12 per cent to 1,204 companies. Over the first eight months, 7,141 companies were shut down.
However, Siriwat said the rising number of closed enterprises was not abnormal, particularly when the overall number of businesses was rising in line with the level of newly registered firms.
According to the department, the number of new companies normally exceeds the number of collapsed firms by a factor of 5:1 in a healthy economy.
The deputy minister said most of the wound-up businesses either had been set up to serve particular projects and their contracts had now expired, or they had lost export quotas.
Relatively few firms had to cease operating because they faced losses, lacked liquidity or were hit by tough competition, he added.