Three in 10 businesses set up during crisis failed

Three out of 10 companies founded during the years of the financial crisis (2009-18) did not survive it, according to a study by the Center of Planning and Economic Research.

The least affected were private capital companies, also called “one-euro companies” because they did not have a minimum capital requirement.

These companies, which were allowed by a 2012 law, were the most resilient, with only 8.61 percent going under, compared to the overall failure rate of 29.03 percent.

A wave of shutdowns started in 2016, with the imposition of excessive social security contributions that made it hard to maintain companies. However, a certain, yet undetermined, percentage of those companies went underground, operating in the black market.

Another marked tendency during the financial crisis was the reluctance to engage in commercial activities. Whereas in 2009 there were 20,637 new retail and wholesale businesses, in 2017, the last year for which there are complete data, 12,141 wholesale and retail businesses were founded.

In manufacturing, there were 2,666 new companies in 2009 and 2,764 in 2017.