The Department of Economic Planning and Statistics (JPES) at the Ministry of Finance and Economy conducted the Annual Census of Enterprises (ACE) 2023 to collect information on growth, contribution, composition and distribution of the economic activities by the business enterprises in the private sector.
JPES released the Report of Summary Findings of the ACE 2023 yesterday and the main findings included 6,570 enterprises have reported as being active in 2022, where 97.6 per cent (6,411 enterprises) comprised of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). In comparison to 2021, 6,454 enterprises were active where 97.4 per cent comprised MSMEs.
There were 2,831 micro enterprises (43.1 per cent) with less than five workers; 2,652 small enterprises (40.4 per cent) with five to 19 workers; 928 medium enterprises (14.1 per cent) employing between 20 and 99 workers; and the remaining 159 enterprises (2.4 per cent) were large enterprises with 100 or more workers.
The three largest economic activities were wholesale and retail trade with 2,359 enterprises (35.9 per cent); accommodation and food services with 782 enterprises (11.9 per cent); and manufacturing with 656 enterprises (10 per cent). The total employment in the private sector increased by 0.8 per cent from 116,637 individuals (2021) to 117,591.
More locals were entering the private sector workforce, where their number rose by 2.8 per cent from 65,757 people in 2021 to 67,586 in 2022.
Wholesale and retail trade was the top employer providing the highest number of job in the private sector with 27,211 employees (23.1 per cent). This was followed by professional, technical, administrative and support services (15,363 employees or 13.1 per cent), construction (14,908 employees or 12.7 per cent).
The total revenue from business activities in the private sector recorded an increase by 28 per cent from BND31,901 million in 2021 to BND40,840 million in 2022.
The highest revenue was generated by manufacturing valued at BND18,052.3 million (43 per cent), followed by mining and quarrying with BND9,858.8 million (24.1 per cent) and wholesale and retail trade with BND6,127.8 million (15 per cent).
