Registration of new firms up 12% in Q1

The number of newly registered companies increased considerably in the first quarter of the year, indicating that the business sector remains confident that the economy will get back on track, the Business Development Department reported          

In the first three months, the number of new firms rose 12 per cent year on year and jumped 32 per cent from the fourth quarter of last year to 17,309 companies.

In March alone, the number of new firms was up 9 per cent year on year and up 1 per cent from February.

"The upcoming Asean integration and the establishment of special economic zones have also encouraged more investment," said Pongpun Gearaviriyapun, director-general of the department.

Her agency projects that this year will see 60,000-65,000 newly registered companies.

In the first quarter, most of the new firms were in construction, property development, restaurants, electricity production, and auditing services.

In March, the value of initial investment capital rose 4 per cent to Bt16.09 billion.

Last month, the number of business closures increased 42 per cent year on year to 1,181 firms, mostly lottery-trading companies.

Meanwhile, the department will closely monitor new firms that claim initial capital investment higher than Bt5 million, obliging them to show exact statements to prevent future defaults. Under a new regulation, these companies must produce bank statements to back their claims.

Pongpun said that already a company planning to register with initial capital of Bt900 billion had postponed its registration with the department since this regulation tightened up monitoring of such claims.

So far, the department has closely checked the statements of about 100 companies in this category.

Pongpun said that if the department found any firm was found to have exaggerated its capital investment when it registered, it could lose its business licence.