39% drop in SME registration till end of October this year
The total number of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) registered with Riyada till the end of October 2018 stood at 4,598, which is a drop of 38.7 per cent compared to the same period of 2017, according to data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
The total number of SMEs registered in the month of October was 36,433, recording a rise compared to the month of September, when it was 35,994.
Among the governorates, Muscat topped the list with 41 per cent SMEs registered in October, followed by North Batinah at 14 per cent, Dakhliyah at nine per cent, South Batinah at eight per cent and the rest of governorates at 28 per cent.
The Governorate of Al Wusta registered the highest rate of decline at 62.2 per cent to 37 SMEs from 98 last year, followed by the Governorate of South Batinah, which registered a fall of 49.1 per cent to 351 SMEs at the end of October this year against 689 SMEs in 2017.
The Governorate of Dakhliyah registered a fall of 47.8 per cent to reach 505 from 967 SMEs in 2017, while Dhahirah saw a 45.5 per cent fall in the number of SMEs to 224 from 411 in 2017.
The number of SMEs registered in North Sharqiyah and South Sharqiyah was 289 and 270, a decline of 42.5 per cent and 38.4 per cent, respectively, during the same period in 2017. In the Governorate of Muscat, the total number of SMEs registered at the end of October saw a 35.6 per cent decline to 1,716 against 2,666 in 2017, according to the data released by NCSI.
The number of SMEs set up in Dhofar at the end of October 2018 fell by 26.6 per cent to reach 306 from 417 during the same period in 2017.
In Musandam, there were 19 SME units registered in the tenmonth period of 2018, a fall of 24 per cent compared to 25 SMEs registered last year, whereas in Buraimi, the number was 161 at the end of October this year compared to 177 last year, a drop of 9 per cent.