According to data released by the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) on Thursday, the number of companies opened in the first eight months of 2009 declined by 19.9 percent over the same period of the previous year, while the number of cooperative enterprises established fell by 25.8 percent in the same period. Newly established companies in the first eight months of this year declined to 28,720 from 35,854 in the same months of 2008, while new cooperatives decreased to just 755 in the same period from 1,018 in August 2008.
The number of closed or bankrupt companies in the first half of 2009 decreased by 0.9 percent, to 6,770 from 6,833 in the first half of 2008, while cooperatives shutting their doors declined to 1,221 from 1,244 in the same period, a decline of 1.85 percent.
Companies opened in August slid by 2.4 percent to 3,331 in 2009 over the same month in 2008; newly established cooperatives, however, increased by 9.3 percent, to 94 from 86 last August. A total of 629 companies closed shop last month, a 0.3 percent decline over August 2008; the number of newly closed cooperatives, however, increased by 15.5 percent in August 2009.
