City eyes hike in operating businesses

The City Permits and Licensing Division under the City Mayor’s Office projected an increase in the number of businesses that will process the renewal or apply for the issuance of their permits to operate from the local government this year because of the aggressive recovery of the economy from the heavy impact inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

City Permits and Licensing Officer Allan Abayao disclosed that for the first 7 working days of the year, there were already 1,886 businesses that renewed their permits while there were some 31 new businesses that were issued their permits.

For the whole month of January 2022, there were some 3,631 businesses that renewed their permits while there were 63 new businesses that were issued permits.

Abayao claimed that there were 69 owners that decided to retire their businesses right at the start of this year compared to the 89 businesses that were retired for the whole month of January last year.

In 2022, the city was able to issue permits to some 23,231 businesses where 21,168 renewed their permits while 2,063 new businesses were issued their permits.

In terms of capital investment derived from registered new businesses in the city, the new businesses invested more than P436.2 million last year compared to the only P340.5 million investments of the new businesses in 2021.

On the number of employees derived from registered new businesses and business renewals, Abayao reported that there were some 66,941 jobs that were provided by the said businesses in 2022 compared to the 63,094 individuals that were employed by the businesses operating in the city in 2021.

Abayao revealed that retail and wholesale businesses topped the list of operating businesses in the city followed by hotels and restaurants.

In 2021, there were a total of 22,800 permitted businesses in the city where 20,570 businesses renewed their permits while 2,230 new businesses were issued their permits. – Deter A. See