Unable to cope with difficulties caused by the global economic crisis,
26,340 Vietnamese businesses have suspended operations or shut down in
the first six months of 2012, a year-on-year increase of 5.4 percent,
the General Statistics Office (GSO) says.
According
to figures released by the GSO in Hanoi on June 29, the number of
enterprises dissolved, at 4,105, marked a year-on-year increase of 35.4
percent, showing businesses were finding it increasingly difficult to
survive in the current environment.
In June alone, 4,110 firms declared bankruptcy or suspended operations. Of these 610 were dissolved.
Of the 11,329 foreign-invested enterprises, 232 firms (two percent of
the total number of registered FIEs in the country) have temporarily
suspended operations, 696 enterprises (6.3 percent) are about to be
dissolved because of losses or changes in the investment environment.
About 23,000 State-owned enterprises (SOEs) have suspended operations while over 30,000 other SOEs could be dissolved.
Lam said SOEs, which are most "vulnerable" in the current state of
economic turmoils, need more support from the Government.
According to the GSO, 27 percent of surveyed interviewed said high
interest rates are the biggest challenge facing their business; 19.5
percent blamed high inflation and economic changes; 17.4 percent cited
difficult access to capital; 9.7 percent, high transportation costs; 7
percent, unstabe electricity supply and another 7 percent, macroeconomic
policices.
Meanwhile, the HCM City Department of
Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs has reported that over 4,800 HCM
City-based businesses reduced their work force in the first four months
of 2012.
According to the department’s recent
survey, over 16,700 workers from the construction, chemicals, mechanics
and service sectors have been sacked.
The survey
also revealed that the workers were sacked because their employers faced
bankrupcy, disintegration, suspension of operations and other
difficulties due to the economic crisis.
In
addition, many other businesses have had to reduce the work hours of
their employees due to a shortage of orders for their production and
processing lines.-VNA