The increase in the number of businesses that closed is alarming! 

I refer to the article “More firms closing amid tough economy” (Straits Times, Aug 14).

It states that “The data showed a slight pickup in the cessation rate of companies in recent years, from 7.3 per cent in 2014 to 7.6 per cent in 2015 and further to 7.8 per cent last year.”

61,138 businesses closed last year?

I the number of closures of business entities and the figure came to a whopping 61,138.

53% increased compared to 2010?

This is an increase of a whopping 53 per cent from the 39,977 closures in 2010.

“Suggesting that the overall corporate health of companies has not deteriorated significantly”?

In this connection, the subject news report said “Still, the cessation rate last year came in below levels recorded in 2011 and 2012, “suggesting that the overall corporate health of companies has not deteriorated significantly”.

Closure of companies exceed newly formed firms?

In this connection, “the number of companies shutting down exceeded newly formed firms in December (2015) – the first time this has happened since the 2009 recession (“Business closures exceed newly-formed firms in Dec“, Straits Times, Mar 4, 2016).

What about all business entities?

As the above data is for companies, has the closure of all types of business entities exceeded newly formed ones too?

Leong Sze Hian