Number of new company registrations drops in Oct

The number of new business registrations showed signs of decline in October amid concerns that the brewing political conflict would have a negative impact on new operations. 

Deputy Commerce Minister Nuttawut Saikuar admitted that the number of newly operated companies could drop in the rest of this year due to worry over the political conflict. However, new Thai businesses may not be affected as much as new foreign companies as foreign confidence was very fragile due to the internal political situation.

The Business Development Department yesterday reported that the number of newly operated firms was down by 14 per cent year on year and 6 per cent month on month to 5,262 firms in October.

Initial investment capital also dropped 50 per cent year on year to Bt19.09 billion last month, but rose 4 per cent compared with September’s value.

“The lower number of new firms last month was a result of a controlling measure on new lottery firms and not because of the political problem,”  Nuttawut explained. However, the current political demonstration would affect the investment environment in the coming months,” he said. 

The department reports showed the combined number of newly set-up companies rose 14 per cent in the first 10 months of the year to 59,999 companies.

The lower number last month was a result of the department becoming stringent in allowing new lottery firms. About 15 lottery firms set up new firms last month, compared with 960 firms in October 2012.

The impact from flooding in many provinces would also affect investor confidence. However, with the likelihood of the Bt2-trillion infrastructure development projects being endorsed, investment in the construction sector should increase in the future.

Despite low confidence among investors, the department is still confident that the number of newly operated businesses in Thailand will reach 70,000 firms this year, a record for business registration in 111 years.

In addition, the department reported that the number of businesses that shut down dropped 3 per cent to 1,581 companies. In the first 10 months, 11,070 companies were shut down, down slightly by 2 per cent.

So far, a total of 560,821 companies actively operated in the Kingdom.