Number of newly-established firms in Vietnam down 13.2 pct in Jan-Apr

Hanoi (VNA) - Nearly 37,600 new firms were formed in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 445.2 trillion VND (19.1 billion USD) in the first four months of this year, down 13.2 percent in number and 18 percent in capital year-on-year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Average registered capital per new enterprise was 11.8 billion VND (506,400 USD) during this period, down 5.5 percent compared to the same period in 2019, the General Statistics Office (GSO) has said in a monthly report.

Taking into account 680.9 trillion VND of additional capital injected by operating enterprises, total registered capital pumped into the economy in the January-April period hit more than 1.1 quadrillion VND, a year-on-year decline of 20.4 percent. 

Among sectors, only electricity, gas and water production and distribution saw an increase in the number of new enterprises with 527, up 40.5 percent compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, newly-established enterprises in wholesale, retail, automobile repair were 12,717, down 11 percent year-on-year. New firms in the construction sector totalled 5,011, down 13 percent while those in manufacturing and processing reached 4,820, down 12.1 percent.

In the four-month period, 17,800 enterprises resumed operations, a yearly hike of 2.1 percent, bringing the total number of newly-registered and reinstated enterprises in the four-month period to 55,400.

According to the GSO, the number of labourers of newly-established enterprises experienced a strong decrease of 30 percent year-on-year to 315,700.

It said due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of enterprises temporarily ceasing operations from January to April surged 34 percent year-on-year to 22,700.

The reviewed period also saw 5,100 enterprises completing procedures for bankruptcy. Of them, 4,600 enterprises had a capital base of less than 10 billion VND, down 4.5 percent.

The GSO noted that in April, 7,885 new firms were set up with registered capital of nearly 94 trillion VND, marking declines of 36 percent in the number of enterprises and 29 percent in registered capital over the previous month.

In a brighter spot, the number of enterprises which resumed operations rose 11.3 percent month-on-month and 41 percent year-on-year to 3,810.

GSO statisticians said these positive figures indicated that enterprises are preparing for a restart to grasp new business opportunities once the pandemic is contained./.