Portugal leads the way in EU business creation

Lisbon: According to Eurostat, looking at the countries of the European Union, Portugal led the registration of new businesses, with an increase of 7.6% compared to the first quarter, followed by Latvia, with an increase of 5.6% and Romania, with an increase of 2.2%.

Despite this positive development, the number of insolvencies in the country increased again between April and June and exceeded the European average, confirming that there are still many businesses that continue to face problems.

The number of bankruptcy filings in the European Union increased by 3.1% in the second quarter of the year, compared to the first three months of 2024, reveals the European statistics office. At the same time as insolvencies increased, the registration of new businesses fell by 2.1%.

“While the number of bankruptcy declarations increased, the sectors of the economy behaved differently”, explains Eurostat, detailing that insolvencies increased in construction (3.8%), financial activities (2.6%), trade (2.4%) and industry (1.6%). The information and communication (-4.8%), transport (-1.6%) and accommodation and food services (-1.1%) sectors recorded a decrease in insolvencies.

In the European context, Greece led insolvencies, with a spike of 133.4%, followed by Lithuania and Slovakia, with increases of 16.7% and 7.6%, respectively. The largest drops in insolvency declarations were in Latvia (-21.4%), Sweden (-14.7%) and Luxembourg (-8.2%).