Number of small firms falls in first half of 2018

Muscat tops with new registration of 1,123 units

MUSCAT: The new registrations of small and medium enterprises (SMES) in Oman stood at 3,059 in the first half of 2018, down from 4,778 new registrations for the same period of last year, according to the monthly data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

The SME units include medium, small and micro business enterprises.

Among various governorates, Muscat Governorate witnessed new registrations of 1,123 SME units in January-june period of 2018, constituting 36.7 per cent of total new registrations.

However, it was down from 1,654 new registrations in the same period of last year, added the NCSI report, quoting the Public Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Riyada) data.

The new registrations of SMES in North Al Batinah stood at 475 during January-june period of 2018 (constituting 15.5 per cent of total registrations), against 701 for the same period of last year.

This was followed by Al Dakhiliyah (348), South Al Batinah (236), Dhofar (200), North Al Sharqiyah (201), South Al Sharqiyah (184), Al Dhahirah (154), Al Buraimi (102), Al Wusta 20 and Musandam (16).

As many as 31,835 new SME units were registered in Oman in 2017. Of this, 10,260 new units were in Muscat Governorate, the NCSI report showed. — ONA