Saudi Arabia sees 78 percent increase in number of registered companies

Dubai: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Commerce issued over 120,000 trade registrations in the second quarter of 2024, marking a significant 78% increase compared to the same period last year.

According to the ministry, a total of 121,521 business identification cards were issued by the end of June, up from 68,222 the previous year. The increase was spread across several sectors: e-commerce registrations rose 17.47 percent, with 40,697 registrations, container services rose 48 percent, with 2,457 registrations, and logistics services saw a 76 percent increase, with a total of 11,928 registrations.

Other sectors, including urban and suburban passenger transportation, arts, entertainment, recreation, short-term accommodation, and cloud computing services, also saw significant increases in registrations. Notably, registrations of AI-related companies increased by 53 percent to 8,948.

Industries such as e-gaming, mining, quarrying and pharmaceuticals also saw an increase in trade registrations. This increase coincides with Saudi Arabia’s position in the top 20 countries in terms of global market competitiveness, ranking 16th out of 67 countries in the International Institute for Management Development’s World Competitiveness Ranking.

In the second quarter, Riyadh led in business registrations with 52,192, followed by the Eastern Provinces with 20,148 and Makkah with 18,904. Additionally, 45 percent of registrations were by women entrepreneurs, reflecting efforts to increase gender diversity in business.