The Portuguese business sector grew by 12.2% in 2018, to 45,386 new companies compared to the previous year, and registered a 6.3% decrease in insolvencies, for a total of 5,888 insolvent companies, Iberinform revealed today.
The creation of new companies in 2018 had a growth of 12.2%, 4,921 more than in 2017, with insolvency proceedings falling by 6.3% in 2018, down 396 from the previous year, according to data from Iberinform, a subsidiary da Crédito y Caución specializing in credit insurance in the domestic market and export credit insurance.
The most significant number of constitutions was observed in Lisbon, with 15,829 new companies (15.6% more), followed by the Porto district with 8,179 companies (15.1% more).
The Setúbal districts totalled 3,391 new businesses and grew 23.4%, Braga (3,274 constitutions and an increase of 10.5%) and Faro with 2,492 companies (10.5% more than in 2017).
Only six districts reported a decline in the number of new companies set up in 2018.
Horta had a decrease of 16.2%, Bragança a reduction of 10.8% and Portalegre a decrease of 5.8% over the previous year.
Concerning insolvencies in 2018, Lisbon and Porto are the districts with the highest insolvency figures, 1,555 and 1,400 respectively, compared to 2017, a decrease of 7.6% in Lisbon and an increase of 5.3 % in Port.
The largest increases in disbursements per district were recorded in Angra do Heroísmo (90% more than in 2017), Horta (60%), Guarda (37.3%), Castelo Branco (20%) and Faro (14.1% ).
In the year to date, there are eight districts with increased insolvencies, representing 36.4% of the national districts and 10% of the total number of insolvencies in the previous year.
The districts that saw decreases in insolvencies in 2018 were Portalegre (27.8%), Madeira (25.7%), Setúbal (25.4%), Évora (24.4%), Viseu and Leiria (23.8%).
