Trade Registry: Romanians set up 23 pct more firms in first five months of 2017

Romanians set up 63,374 firms in the first five months of 2017, up by 23 percent compared with the same period of 2016, especially due to the increase by almost 24.2 percent of limited liability companies (SRL), according to the statistics published on Friday by the National Trade Registry (ONRC).

During January-May, in Romania there were 51,510 newly registered firms, according to News.ro.

In the first five months, the number of new SRLs increased by 24.2 percent compared with the same period of 2016, to 43,495. SRLs represent 68.6 percent of the overall newly registered firms during January-May. The number of newly registered sole traders went up by 12.2 percent in the first five months of this year, to 11,565, after a drop in 2016.

The reduction from 2016 was generated by the introduction of the mandatory payment of pension contribution from January 1 for sole traders. In the top counties and cities of Romania, the leader remains Bucharest, with 8,772 firms registrations in the first five months of the year, by 7.17 percent more compared with the same period of 2016.

On the second place is Cluj, with 3,980 registrations, a growth by 46.86 percent and on the third place is Timis, with 2,881 newly registered firms.