The community of Madrid maintained the lead in business creation over Catalonia at the start of the year. According to the statistics of commercial companies published this Thursday by the INE, it registered 2,042 new companies, compared to the 1,868 in Catalonia. It is the second year in a row that it starts better.

In number of dissolutions, the community that houses the Spanish capital registered 1,387, 30% more, and clearly stands out as the one that adds the most. Andalusia is behind it, with 532 and 6% less, while in Catalonia 273 dissolutions are reported, 10.2% less.

In this way, the net balance -creation of companies less dissolutions- favors Catalan autonomy: Madrid hosts 655 more companies in net terms in January, compared to 1,595 in Catalonia. It is the best balance in all of Spain. The data corresponds only to January: in the whole of 2022, for example, Madrid had the best balance, according to figures from the Registrars of Spain. In the INE statistics, however, the opposite occurred.

From the Generalitat it is highlighted that Catalonia is still the autonomous region with the most active companies, with 20.1% of the national total, by 19.1% of Madrid, recently pointed out sources from the Department of Business and Work, led by Roger Torrent, in La Vanguardia.

In general terms, 9,472 companies were created in Spain in January, 16% more than at the beginning of 2022 and the highest figure since March of last year. Dissolutions also grew, with their ninth consecutive increase (6%).

Among the new companies, one in five is dedicated to commerce, followed by the real estate, financial and insurance sectors (16.8%) and construction (13%). The same categories are also where more companies are lost.

The bulk of the operations are concentrated in Madrid and Catalonia. Only Andalusia (1,680 companies) and the Valencian Community (1,176) exceed the level of a thousand companies created per month. The most notable growth occurs in La Rioja, with a rise of 61%, but it barely has 45 new companies. Only Cantabria (-2.6%) sees the creation of companies fall.

On the opposite side, the dissolutions grow more in Murcia, 120%, up to 55. They also do so, to a lesser extent, in Asturias (14%), the Balearic Islands (14%), the Canary Islands (7%), Extremadura (8 %), Navarra (94%) and La Rioja (16%).