Out of a total of 9.06 thousand companies that were formed in Montenegro last year, almost 80% of them were founded by foreigners with a capital of almost EUR 30 million, according to data from the Revenue and Customs Administration (UPC).
UPC told Vijesti that the number of companies whose founders were foreigners was 7.07 thousand, and in more than half of the cases they were Russian citizens, who founded 3.83 thousand companies in Montenegro.
After them, the most numerous are Turkish citizens who founded 1.48 thousand companies last year alone. Far behind Russia and Turkey on the list of foreign founders of companies in Montenegro are Serbian citizens who founded 275 companies, followed immediately by German companies with 247 and Ukrainian companies with 200 companies. Citizens of Belarus are in fifth place with 138 newly founded companies, while the following on the list – Italians, citizens of Kosovo and Metohija, British and citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina – opened less than 100 companies in Montenegro during the last year.
The UPC said that the activities o” the newly founded companies of foreign founders are different, and the most, 873 of them, which is about 12% of the total number, are engaged in wholesale or retail trade.
About nine percent of them registered for activities in computer programming, while 510 companies were registered as restaurants or other catering facilities. Then there are companies that deal with consulting services, of which 473 were founded, while 438 companies deal with the construction of buildings. Between 200 and 300 new companies were registered in the Central Register of Business Entities under the following activities: advertising agencies, hair and beauty salons, real estate rental, consulting services in the fields of information technology, data processing and application services, and design activities – the UPC stated.
According to the data submitted to the UPC, during the last year foreigners founded 114 companies for hotel and accommodation services. In addition to companies, 1.03 thousand new entrepreneurs were registered last year, where the structure was reversed, so there were 775 domestic citizens and 257 foreigners.
When it comes to this year, by the end of March, 2.78 thousand new companies were registered, and the trend from the previous year continued, so 2.02 thousand or 72 percent of the companies were founded by foreign citizens. The amount of capital for companies whose founders are foreigners and which were registered this year is EUR 2.03 million – the UPC stated.
The structure of where foreigners come from has not changed significantly compared to the previous year. Russian citizens founded 1.24 thousand companies this year, which is 60% of the total number of foreign citizens, while a fifth of companies were founded by Turks. They are followed in significantly smaller numbers by citizens of Serbia, Germany, Ukraine and Belarus.
