ALMOST 7000 new businesses have opened in 2020 despite Covid-19 it has been revealed.

A survey carried out by SHL demonstrated that 6874 companies launched this year which is 153 more than in 2019.

Scotland saw an overall decrease in new business creation in 2020. From January to August 2020, 1,525 fewer new businesses were created in Scotland compared to the same period in 2019.

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A spokeswoman for Talent innovation company SHL said: "With 1.3 million people on furlough in the UK from the end of March (rising to 9.6 million by August), and a historically difficult job market, many people have seen it as a time to create their own opportunities.

“Around the country we have seen a boost in new business creation, however, not everywhere has had the same upward curve. Scotland saw a decrease of 6.05 per cent in new businesses being created since 2019. But some cities within the country still managed to see a rise in start-ups in 2020, Glasgow being one of them.

“The city has a long entrepreneurial history with an increase in new businesses almost every year in the past decade, and it is encouraging to see that 2020 is no different.

“With 6,874 new businesses in Glasgow in 2020, a rise of 2.28 per cent since 2019, many people in the city seem to have taken advantage of having more time at hand to start their own businesses and with lockdown being in place throughout a big part of 2020, it isn’t surprising seeing a big rise (112.27 per cent) in businesses doing retail sale through mail and the internet."