The number of new companies that were set up in March hit 1,741 with a total investments of 3.6 billion pounds, according to a report by the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI).

Around 596 companies were set up in the industrial domain, 420 in the service domain, 72 in the construction domain, 53 in the communications and IT domain, 24 in the agricultural domain and 12 in the tourism domain, the report said.