Despite the pandemic, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is seeing an increase in business registrations.
DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez said the agency recorded a 31-percent increase in business registrations as of the fist half of the year,
That is on top of the 50 percent growth registered in 2020 when the pandemic started.
A lot of these new businesses are online businesses.
Lopez said while a number of businesses, mostly small and micro, have been affected by the pandemic in terms of absolute number, with about 8 to 10 percent closed during the strict quarantines in March and April – the number of businesses registering is growing.
“This means those that closed down have shifted to other businesses such as online, delivery and logistics or as service providers. They simply started anew. Small businesses want to make sure they have a steady income,” he said.
According to Lopez, the number of DTI-registered businesses has almost doubled to 1.7 million to date, from just 900,000 five years ago.
He said existing businesses had been encouraged to register as the government relaxed the requirements and simplified the processes.
