Turkey: Company startups up 33 pct in May from 2017

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - The number of newly established companies in Turkey rose nearly 33 percent year-on-year in May, the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) announced Friday in a report.

8,190 new companies were established in May, compared to 6,158 business startups in the same month of 2017.

The chamber's figures showed that the top three sectors the new companies have chosen to operate in were the wholesale trade, construction, and real estate.

"In May 2018, 1,278 companies with foreign partners were established," the report said.

It said, "689 of these companies had Turkish partners, 162 had Syrian partners, 140 had Saudi Arabian partners."

The union also noted that the number of company shutdowns in May was down substantially, by 25.6 percent on a yearly basis -- from 792 to 589.

During the January-May period, Turkey saw an increase of 34.3 percent in newly established companies, reaching 40,744.

In the five-month period, 4,731 companies closed, down by 3.1 percent from 4,882 companies in the same period last year.

In 2017, 72,871 companies were established -- up 14.4 percent from 2016 -- while 13,517 companies went out of business.

TOBB's next batch of data on newly launched business figures for June is scheduled for July 20.