He said that among the enterprises, 5,803have dissolved, 11,421 have closed down, and 31,477 have stopped payingtaxes, having not ceased operations yet.
The ministry saidthat enterprise production and trading have faced considerabledifficulties in the context of domestic monetary tightening and globaleconomic turmoil. Limited credit and high lending interest rates haveadditionally caused numerous enterprises to decrease production andbusiness activities due to loss.
Deputy Director of theDepartment of Industry and Trade of southern Can Tho province DuongNghia Hiep said that high lending interest rates remain the largestchallenge to the survival of enterprises, having caused a high rise inproduction costs and a sharp reduction in competitiveness.
Commercial banks have pledged to cut lending interest rates to 17-19percent per year since earlier last month, however, most enterprises,especially the small- and medium-sized, still have to borrow at 21-23percent.
Experts said that enterprises specialising inagricultural production and trading are the most vulnerable as profitsgained are often three to four times lower than that of otherindustries.
According to the Government, 57,800 firms werelicensed in the first nine months of the year with total registeredcapital of over 363.7 trillion VND (17.3 billion USD), down 7.8 percentand 4 percent in volume and value compared to the same period lastyear./.