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 yesterday 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.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency