BUSINESS start-up figures published by the Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers yesterday showed a 25% year-on-year slump during the final three months of 2009.
New business bank accounts at the four clearing banks north of the border totalled 3,316, against 3,861 in the previous quarter and 4,415 in the final three months of 2008.
The total for the full year was 15,726, compared with 20,028 during 2008, a fall of 21%
Start-ups in Aberdeen fell to 761 from 1,147 previously, while in Aberdeenshire, 931 firms got off the ground in 2009, down from 1,261 the year before.
The 2009 figures for Angus, Argyll and Bute, Dundee, Highland, Moray, Perth and Kinross and Shetland were all lower than the previous year’s, while Orkney saw an increase of three to 63.
North-east Tory MSP Nanette Milne said: “The number of new business in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire has decreased by 34% and 26% respectively.
“There are many willing and budding entrepreneurs in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire, but they need incentives to get their business going.”
Despite last year’s overall drop north of the border, Ceri Rogers, organiser of annual business-support exhibition New Start Scotland, said: “It is encouraging to see that over 15,000 entrepreneurs took the plunge and set up their own business last year.
“This shows the entrepreneurial spirit is still alive and well in the many areas of the country.
“Opportunities exist for the companies that are prepared to work for them.”
The 2010 New Start Scotland event tales place at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow on Friday and Saturday of next week.