The number of commercial registries in various legal forms recorded in the Commercial Registry Secretariat of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion (MoCIIP) in the first quarter of 2021 was 5,620. This was 30.18 per cent more compared to the 4,317 registries recorded in the same period in 2020, according to MoCIIP. 

Figures released by the ministry indicate an increase in the number of commercial registries of individual merchant companies, limited liability companies (LLC), one-person companies, home businesses and street vendors, all in accordance with the legal forms of commercial registries. The increase in registries is attributed to several factors, including a tendency of investors to utilise self-service facilities and to take advantage of e-government services. 

Elaborating further, the Statistics Department in MoCIIP informed that the recorded commercial registries include 3,006 registries of individual merchant companies recorded in the first quarter of 2021, compared to 2,257 registries recorded in the same period of 2020, while there were 1,099 registries of LLCs, compared to 919 LLCs in the first quarter of last year. This first quarter, there were 955 registries of one-person companies, compared to 666 registries of this category in the same period last year. There were 359 home business registries in the first three months of 2021, compared to 249 recorded in the same period of last year. 

The ministry’s statistics also show that there were 80 registries of joint venture companies, compared to 90 in the same business category in 2020; 59 registries of limited partnership companies in 2021, compared to 96 in 2020; 57 registries of street vendors, compared to 26 in 2020; four registries of subsidiaries of international companies in 2021, compared to ten in 2020; and one registry of a closed joint stock company (SAOC) in the first quarter of 2021, compared to three in the same period of 2020.