Singapore business closures hit eight-year high in 2025

Wholesale Trade, Information & Communications, and Retail lead business cessations in 2025.

Business cessations in Singapore rose to 60,445 in 2025, the highest level since 2017, according to data compiled from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA).

The number of businesses that closed increased from 55,318 in 2024 and 51,587 in 2023. Notably, 2005 had also seen a spike of 63,406 closures due to an ACRA exercise to remove dormant companies, according to the government authority.

Monthly data on new business formation shows that 5,416 companies were registered in February 2026 and 7,408 in January 2026, compared with 5,932 and 5,971 in the same months of 2025.

Formation numbers remained elevated across 2025, with December reaching 6,583 new businesses.

In December of 2024, a drop to 4,359 registrations was attributed to a temporary suspension of ACRA’s Bizfile portal for system migration.

Industry-level data for business cessations in the last three years shows that Wholesale Trade led closures, with 9,980 businesses ceasing operations in 2025, followed by Information & Communications at 7,550 and Retail Trade at 6,794.

Finance & Insurance reported 4,783 closures, Food & Beverage Services had 3,074, Construction and Manufacturing were at 2,737 and 2,518, respectively.