The Business and Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA) recorded a decline of 7.3 per cent in overall business registration in 2022, its Registrar of Business and Intellectual Property Vivienne Katjiuongua has said.

Katjiuongua in a statement issued on Wednesday said the authority recorded 12 666 business registrations in the year 2022 compared to 13 594 registered in 2021.

She said from the total number of registrations, 11 130 comprised Close Corporations (CCs) while 1 153 were for companies, 318 registrations were for Section 21 companies (Associations Not For Gain), 49 were defensive names and 16 were foreign companies.

“Although BIPA observed a decline of 9 per cent in the registrations of CCs during 2022, compared to 2021, the authority saw an increase in the number of companies registered by 12 per cent compared to the previous year,” said Katjiuongua.

From the 12 000 business entities registered, the authority also recorded a total deregistration of 869 in 2022 which were CCs and 256 companies, with five companies recorded under liquidation during the same period.

BIPA recorded a total of 2 698 foreign-owned businesses. Foreign nationals were recorded as either members, directors or shareholders in newly registered businesses.

The country that topped the list of foreign business in Namibia was South Africa, with 698 individuals registered as business owners.

Zimbabwe recorded 630 individuals registered as business owners, while China recorded 239 and Nigeria 104 during 2021.

Katjiuongua noted that the registrations fluctuated year-on-year depending on the socio-economic climate in Namibia and the appetite for investment in the country.

“BIPA is confident that there will be an investment climate and economic activities improvement, especially in the domestic market there might be an uptake on new business registration in the year 2023,” she concluded.

(NAMPA)

Source: The Namibian Press Agency