​
The Ministry of Economy and Commerce has issued its Business Progress Report on the Commerce Sector for January 2018. The report indicated the registration of 3001 new companies including 2396 main commercial records and 605 branch commercial records.
 
Limited liability companies accounted for 62% of new commercial records followed by limited liability companies in the category of single-person companies at 27% while 10% of new companies were registered in the category of Individual Corporations.
 
Contracting companies topped the list of most common activities in January, with 444 commercial records issued in this field. 206 commercial records were issued for construction material trading while 155 records were issued for grocery stores and supply shops. The field of public trading followed with 140 records while restaurants, cafeterias and ice cream shops accounted for 126 records.
 
The report pointed out that a total of 8204 commercial licenses were issued, amended or renewed in January. 1813 new commercial licenses were issued while 978 were modified and 5413 commercial licenses were renewed.
 
A total of 418 companies closed in January, representing 14% of newly registered companies.
 
Regarding write-off activities, contracting companies topped the list at 36%. Trading in construction materials, electrical appliances and electronics followed in second place at 18% while public trading companies came third at 17%.
 
The report has indicated that the total number of transactions that took place during January 2018 at the ministry’s branches reached 33,116 transactions.
 
In the area of intellectual property rights, the report indicated that 44 new patent applications were issued in January while 230 patent applications were renewed. In addition, 4011 trademarks have been registered during January, while 42 certificates were issued in the field of copyright and related rights.