Nearly 3,000 businesses in Hanoi have halted production so far this year, including 108 businesses that changed their business lines, according to the Hanoi Taxation Department.

The closures were attributed to the slow global economic recovery, rapidly increasing bad debt, large volume of inventories and high lending interest rate.

Deputy Director of the Municipal Taxation Department Thai Dung Tien said that in the first quarter this year, tax declarations and payment from businesses were much lower than in the same period last year.

By April, the city’s total revenue is estimated to reach more than 40.2 trillion VND (1.915 billion USD) - 83.3 percent of what it was last year.

Next month, the city tax department will review first quarter tax collection.-VNA