The total number of international companies formed during the third quarter of last year fell by 33.6 percent compared to the same period the year before, according to figures released by Government.

But overall there has been an increase of almost 23 percent of exempted companies registered since the same quarter in 1998.

In the third quarter of 2001, there were 286 newly registered international companies compared to 431 in the same period the previous year, according to figures released by the Statistic's Department for the third quarter of 2001.

In the international sector, there are now 11,816 exempted companies, however, in the previous quarter there were 12,001 and in the third quarter of 2000, the figure stood at 11,194.

The number of exempted partnerships stood at 525 at the end of the third quarter 2001, a drop of 16 percent from the same period the year before when there were 452 on the register.

The number of non-resident companies increased by 2 percent to compared to the same period in 2000, to stand at 628. Non-resident insurance companies stayed at 22 - the figure it has been for five consecutive quarters.

New registrations in the local sector stood at 45, down from the number the year before, when there were 52 incorporations and is the lowest figure in 2001.

The total number of local incorporations stood at 2,633 by the end of the third quarter, an increase of 3.6 percent compared to the same quarter in 2000.

Overall during the year both local and international companies registered showed an overall increase. The total number of international companies rose by 5.8 percent from 12,283 to 12,991.