Fall in registrations of new companies

New company registrations fell 7.9 per cent year-on-year in April, 1,077 compared with 1,169, company registrar figures showed on Monday.

April was the eighth straight month recording a decrease in new company registrations, which had shown a continuous rise in the five years between 2014 and 2018.

New company registration applications fell by 13.7 per cent in the first quarter of the year, or 4,322 against 5,010 in Q1 2018.

On a monthly basis, applications in April dropped by 2.7 per cent.

Name applications dropped to 2,378 in April this year compared with 3,488 in the same month of 2018.

The number of registered companies was 218,954 at the end of April, the department said.

According to the registrar, 17 companies had filed for bankruptcy in Q1 2019 against 97 for the whole of last year.

During the same period, 14 private citizens filed for bankruptcy against 34 for the entire 2018.