Doha                                                                                                                                                                                   08 April 2018                                                                                                                                                                     (QNA)

1,932 new companies were registered in March 2018, said the Ministry of Economy and Commerce. March 2018 Business Progress Report  on Commerce Sector reported record number of new major business houses registered 1,525

As per Business Progress Report on the Commerce Sector for March 2018, the number of new major business records reached 1525, while the number of new sub-registries reached 407 records.

Limited liability companies accounted for 62% of the major business registers, second place went to  category of single owner limited liability companies with 26%, and individual institutions with 11 % obtained third place.

During the month of March, construction companies topped the list of most registered activities with 5,951 registrations, while Commercial activities on groceries and supplying were in addition of 1,011.

The Ministry also issued 1,073 trade registers for trading in public goods, and 1,629 for construction materials trading.

According to the report, the number of commercial licenses issued, modified or renewed during December was 7,811, the number of licenses issued by the Ministry reached 1,498 licenses, while 869 licenses were amended, and 5,444 licenses were renewed.

Number of companies closed during last March includes Construction companies on top as 50%, Building Material Trading were on 2nd place with 20%,  Public Goods Trading companies  with 12 % ranked third, Electrical and Electronic equipment and accessories stood at 4th position with 10%, whereas, Restaurants, Cafeterias and Ice cream shops got 6th place with 8%.

35,215 transactions took place in the external branches of Ministry of Commerce of Qatar during month of March 2018.

52 Nos of new patent applications in Intellectual Property Rights were registered whereas 239 patent applications were renewed.

22 Nos of Trademark applications registered last month, whereas, 46 certificates issued in the field of copyright and neighbouring rights.