Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
The Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) has deregistered 24,713 companies of the 25,000 that were earmarked for deregistration in 2018 due non-compliance.
And 27,591 businesses were registered by the agency in 2018 compared to 26,745 registered in 2017.
PACRA Public Relations Officer Vaida Njovu says the bulk of the registrations are in wholesale and retail trade, financial and insurance as well as construction sectors.
Mrs Njovu says the agency also recorded an increase in the number of business registrations by female entrepreneurs in 2018 with a total of 5,265 compared to 2017 which had recorded 5,036 registrations.
She has told Q-News that PACRA recorded an increase in the filing of annual returns at 61,144 compared to only 52,060 received in 2017.
Mrs Njovu further states that in the area of Intellectual Property Rights, the agency recorded an increase in lodgments in 2018, specifically in Patents and Industrial Designs with statistics of 24 and 39 respectively, as compared to 2017 which had 20 and 28.