Company closures jump 22%

In June alone, 1,681 companies ceased operations, up 70 per cent month-on-month, according to the Business Development Department. The figure for the whole six months was 6,899 companies.

However, the number of newly registered companies in the first six months increased by nearly 6 per cent on-year, to 1,206 companies.

"Despite the increase in the number of business shutdowns, new businesses are emerging which means the economy is not in a totally bad condition," deputy director-general Pranit Lortragool said.

She admitted the number of new businesses registering was small, indicating how the unclear political situation had hurt confidence. Last month, only 63 new companies were registered, up 1.7 per cent on-year.

In the first half, most of the new companies were in the construction, property development, and travel sectors.

At present, Thailand has some 548,818 registered companies.