HELSINKI, July 3 (Xinhua) -- The number of company closures in Finland continued to rise sharply between January and March this year, according to a press release issued by Statistics Finland on Thursday.

In the first quarter of 2025, nearly 11,000 new companies were established. However, more than 21,000 businesses ceased operations during the same period -- a significant increase from around 12,700 closures recorded a year earlier.

According to an earlier press release from the statistics authority, in the final quarter of 2024, more than 16,000 firms in Finland ceased operations, nearly double the figure from the same period of the previous year.

"There have already been 38,500 company closures in the past six months, while the average number of closures per year is 30,000," said Tommi Veistamo, chief actuary at Statistics Finland.

Veistamo attributed the surge in closures in part to recent legislative changes. Under amended regulations effective from the beginning of 2025, small businesses are no longer eligible for value-added tax (VAT) relief.

Meanwhile, the number of new business openings declined by 13 percent in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. The decrease was recorded across all regions except the region of Southwest Finland, with the largest drop observed in the region of Kainuu, central Finland.

By sector, the education and arts, entertainment, and recreation industries experienced particularly high closure rates -- with more than four times as many businesses shutting down as starting up.

While some sectors, such as real estate, finance and insurance, and construction, saw an increase in new business registrations, closures still outpaced openings across the board.