Bermuda registered 1,200 new companies last year — the most in five years.

Education and Economic Development Minister Grant Gibbons said it was “one more sign that Bermuda is moving in the right direction after years of decline”.

In a statement released this afternoon, Dr Gibbons said the tally of new companies was the highest since 2008 — the year in which the global financial crisis struck — and was up 16 percent from the 1,035 recorded in 2012.

“In this case, the strong increase in registrations is an indicator of renewed confidence in Bermuda,” Dr Gibbons said. “We can expect that these new companies will make a very positive contribution to job creation and economic growth.

“We saw a strong upward trend of local and international company formation in 2013, in contrast to the decline from 2011 to 2012.”

Of the new companies, 180 were local registrations, a 22 percent increase over the 147 in 2012; and 1,020 were new international companies and partnerships, a 15 percent increase over the 888 in 2012.

At the end of 2013, there were a total of 18,827 local and exempt entities on the Island’s company register — a two percent increase over a year earlier.

“Over the next few months we will continue to build upon this positive momentum through the combined efforts of the government ministries, the BMA and our partnership with the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA),” Dr Gibbons said. “Overall, this is encouraging news for Bermudians and Bermuda business, it demonstrates quantitative evidence of growth and that Bermuda is back in business.”