Authority presents stats on registered companies

THE total number of companies in the country registered under the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) as of last month is 63,433, says managing director Clarence Hoot.
While providing an update on statistics in the IPA registry during the Startup PNG Convention in Port Moresby on Tuesday, Hoot said companies referred to the bigger entities that had shareholders, holders of the company, and directors who were responsible for the day-to-day progress of the company.
“The current deregistration exercise deals with that entity type,” he said.
“In terms of business names, there are 149,936 registered business names. These are active entities.
“In terms of associations, there’s about 8,588 registered associations and we have altogether about 5,821 business groups.
“When you compare the figures to the number of foreigners registered in the country, and these are certified foreigners, the number of foreign enterprises certified so far is 9,850.
“So, we have to then ask ourselves who is really running the economy and who is at fault for the economy not running the way it should be?
“If there are Papua New Guinean businesses, maybe we have to look at ourselves.
“Maybe they need some support, maybe they need more training,”
Meanwhile, Hoot said there were about 542 entities in the personal property security registry.
He said they had had some challenges of promoting that facility since it was transferred from the Treasury Department to the IPA about two years ago.
“I have had some difficulty in promoting this facility and creating awareness on this facility,” he said.