The total number of all international companies incorporated in Bermuda has reached an all-time high of 13,436, according to statistics held by Government.

And the number of local companies on the register has also reached record levels with a rise of 31 percent year on year to 2,809 for the first quarter of 2003 and exempted companies at the highest level ever at 12,196.

These figures are part of information that is normally contained in the Quarterly Bulletin of Statistics, which was due to be released by Government last week. However, the acting head of the Statistics Department Steven Holdipp said that the report was delayed due to information not being in on time, and could not give a date for the release of the figures, which include visitor spending, custom duty, construction and the balance of payments.

He said that the full figures were also delayed due to staff in the Statistics Department working on the Economic Activity Report and the National Accounts Programme.

But he released both the new registrations and total number of registrations figures as well as revised total employment figures for 2001. These charts show that during the first quarter of 2003 51 local companies were incorporated, two fewer than that for the same time a year earlier, but this took the total to new heights.

There were also 208 exempted companies, 81 less than that for the same time span in 2002 - a drop of 28 percent. Just four exempted partnerships were formed in Q1 of 2003, compared to nine in Q1 of 2002, and 15 the previous quarter.

Ten non-resident companies were formed during this time frame, two fewer than a year earlier.

This took the number of exempted companies as a whole to total of 12,196 - the highest ever recorded, higher than in the final quarter of 2001, when 12,100 were registered and than in the first quarter of 2002, when the figure is set at 12,125. If you add the total exempted partnerships (579) and non-resident companies (642) and non-resident insurance companies, the total number of international businesses in Bermuda stands at 13,436, up from the same quarter a year ago when the figure stood at 13,319 and from the final quarter in 2002, when there was a total of 13,337 businesses.

The department also said that there was a revised figure for the 2001 total employment figure of 37,597. The figures for 2002 are still not available.