Singapore sees net gain of 30,000 newly registered companies

Minister of State for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling revealed these statistics in Parliament in response to a question posed by Member of Parliament (MP) Wan Rizal.

Providing more details, she said that over the last two years, about 3,840 firms were deregistered on average each month – similar to the period from 2017 to 2019. Nevertheless, an average of more than 5,000 new firms were registered each month, leading to a net increase in the total number of businesses operating in the country.

Sectors with the largest number of new businesses formed included professional services, wholesale trade, and retail, she said.

When asked about the situation in retail and tourism-related sectors, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan said from January 2020 to September 2021, 8,600 retail businesses have shuttered. This is 330 more than the same period between 2018 and 2019.

“However, there were 15,570 new retail businesses set up, resulting in a net increase of 6,970 retail firms over the same period from January 2020 to September 2021,” he said.

The tourism industry saw “some exits” since January last year, but new entrants have kept the number of businesses in operation “fairly stable”, Tan said. For example, the number of licensed hotels remains at around 420 even though 13 hotels have shuttered.

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The total number of licensed tourist guides is hovering around 2,900, with 176 guides choosing not to renew their licences during this period. Travel agents have been harder hit, with 157 or 8% of all licensed travel agents closing shop, even as around 30 new ones entered the market.