The figure is the highest since 2018, with the exception of the first quarter of 2022. There was also a record number of inactive companies.
In the first quarter of 2024, 7,540 closed companies in Uruguay, according to the data of the National Institute of Statistics (INE). This figure reached the highest level of the last two years, while the number of inactive companies It was the largest since 2018.
He INE presented the survey of company demographics corresponding to the first quarter of the year, and the results revealed a complex moment for companies in Uruguay. In this sense, the number of companies that closed between January and March was 7,540, 4.8% more in the year-on-year comparison – 7,197 closures in the first quarter of 2023 -, and 7.8% higher than the closures recorded in the last quarter of last year —7,003 closures.
Likewise, this figure exceeded the records of recent years, with the only exception of the first quarter of 2022, when the number of companies that arrived was 8,716. Not counting this period, the result for last January-March is the worst since 2018, even taking into account the first quarters affected by the pandemic. Covid-19.
As for the initiation of procedures for cessation of activities, there were 10,243 companies that started it in the surveyed period. The year-on-year increase was 11.6%, while the increase compared to the previous quarter was 15.4%.
Active and inactive companies, another maximum
On the other hand, the report of the INE also showed that at the beginning of the year the highest amount of active companies (190,243), with an increase of 4% and a rise of 7,959. It was the highest figure since at least the first quarter of 2018, which is when the study begins. The smallest amount was recorded between April and June 2018 with 155,900.
In contrast, there were 65,625 inactive companies in the first quarter of 2024, which meant a year-on-year growth of 8% and 5,021 more in the same relationship. It was also the most since 2018, followed by 63,509 in the third quarter of 2023.
The beginning of the year also saw the birth of 9,750 companies – a growth of 7.5% year-on-year although 5% less than at the end of 2023 – and the restart of activities of another 1,593 – an increase of 30.7% compared to the first quarter from last year but 17% less than in the fourth.
Source: Ambito
