‘We’ve had people migrating to the Territory, potentially escaping the more repressed areas down south’: Business numbers grow according to ABS

THE number of businesses operating in the Territory has reached a record high after hundreds of new enterprises started last financial year

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THE number of businesses operating in the Northern Territory has reached a record high of more than 15,000, after hundreds of new enterprises started last financial year.

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data recorded 15,072 actively trading businesses in the NT at the end of last financial year – 303 or 2.1 per cent more than the previous year.

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Figures show that 2177 new ­businesses began work in the Territory in 2019-20, while 1825 closed in the same period.

Chamber of Commerce NT chief executive Greg Ireland said that he suspected the increase was related to people fleeing to the NT from interstate during COVID-19.

“I think many people leaving interstate during COVID came here starting something up themselves,” he said.

“We’ve had people migrating to the Territory, potentially escaping the more repressed areas down south, and small businesses would also be encouraged to come here with the tradie scheme,” Mr Ireland said.

Darwin business owner Yogi Bhairab opened his new cafe Yogi’s Bake and Co on Smith St just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year.

Yogi's Bake & Co on Smith St was set up just before the pandemic. Photograph: Che Chorley

“We opened for a trial period as a pop-up shop, but we decided to keep going as things bounced back and ­restrictions lifted,” he said.

“It was definitely hard at first because our business was down 80 per cent at one stage.”

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The ABS data also shows there were 2,422,404 actively trading businesses in the Australian economy as at June 30, 2020.

There was a 2 per cent, or 46,651, increase in the number of businesses across the country in 2019-20.

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Originally published as ‘We’ve had people migrating to the Territory, potentially escaping the more repressed areas down south’: Business numbers grow according to ABS