Nearly 11,000 businesses were dissolved or suspended their operations in January, reflecting a 23 percent increase from a year ago, according to the General Statistics Office.

Of these, the number of dissolved firms, which were mostly small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) was 993, with a registered capital of less than 10 billion VND (470,000 USD), while more than 9,700 companies suspended operations.

However, the official figures revealed that over 2,800 businesses had resumed operations.

Around 6,900 enterprises were newly established, with a total registered capital of 31.7 trillion VND (1.48 billion USD), representing 27 percent drop from last year.

Accordingly, the average registered capital was pegged at 4.6 billion VND for each company, down 20 percent in comparison with the same period last year.

In addition, the number of labourers for newly-established companies slipped by 7.4 percent from the corresponding period last year.

Notably, some sectors saw a growth in the number of new firms, such as entertainment with 147 percent, education and training at 45 percent and real-estate trading at 42 percent.

The sectors of healthcare, electricity, gas and water distribution, as well as mineral exploration, wholesale, retail, and automobile repairs, saw fewer new companies being opened.

GSO said the number of labourers in localities with a big industrial scale, including Thai Nguyen, Hai Duong, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, as well as Quang Nam, Hai Phong and HCM City sharply surged from the same period last year.-VNA