The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) has released its bulletin relating to establishment and closure of companies in Turkey in August 2020.
The number of companies newly established in August 2020 was 9,352, which is an increase of 76.4% on the figure of 5,301 recorded in the same month of the previous year, and a decrease of 8.3% on that of the previous month of July. Cooperatives increased 61.8% to 144, and sole proprietorships increased by 93.6% to 2,772 compared with the same month of the previous year.
In the first eight months of 2020, the number of newly established companies increased by 20.7% to 63,309 compared with the same period of the previous year.
With regards the year 2019, the number of companies newly established decreased 1.4% to 84,102, cooperatives increased 8.5% to 1,161, and sole proprietorships decreased 30.3% to 24,459, compared to the previous year.
The number of companies closing in August 2020 was 1,241, which is 28.6% more than the figure of 965 recorded in the same month of the previous year, but 17.5% less than the figure for the previous month of July. Cooperatives closing increased 39.1% to 64, and sole proprietorships closing increased by 13.6% to 1,121 compared with the same month of the previous year.
In the first eight months of 2020, the number of companies closing increased by 11.8% to 8,492 compared with the same period of the previous year, and the number of sole proprietorships closing increased by 15.2% to 15,055.
With regards the year 2019, the number of companies closing increased by 5% to 13,197, cooperatives closing fell by 17.1% to 853, and sole proprietorships closing increased by 0.4% to 19,044, compared to the previous year.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic and the on-going economic recession in Turkey, there has been a significant increase in the number of companies opening over the first eight months of 2020. The increase in the number of companies closing during this period has been a little over half the rate of companies opening. There is no doubt a time lag until negative factors cause companies to re-assess their viability as going concerns.