Hanoi (VNA) - Nearly 37,600 new firms were formed in Vietnam with atotal registered capital of 445.2 trillion VND (19.1 billion USD) in the firstfour months of this year, down 13.2 percent in number and 18 percent in capitalyear-on-year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Average registered capital per newenterprise was 11.8 billion VND (506,400 USD) during this period, down 5.5percent 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 ofadditional capital injected by operating enterprises, total registered capitalpumped into the economy in the January-April period hit more than 1.1quadrillion VND, a year-on-year decline of 20.4 percent.
Among sectors, only electricity, gas andwater production and distribution saw an increase in the number of newenterprises with 527, up 40.5 percent compared to the same period last year.
Meanwhile, newly-established enterprises inwholesale, retail, automobile repair were 12,717, down 11 percent year-on-year.New firms in the construction sector totalled 5,011, down 13 percent whilethose in manufacturing and processing reached 4,820, down 12.1 percent.
In the four-month period, 17,800enterprises resumed operations, a yearly hike of 2.1 percent, bringing thetotal number of newly-registered and reinstated enterprises in the four-monthperiod to 55,400.
According to the GSO, the number oflabourers of newly-established enterprises experienced a strong decrease of 30percent year-on-year to 315,700.
It said due to impacts of the COVID-19pandemic, the number of enterprises temporarily ceasing operations from Januaryto April surged 34 percent year-on-year to 22,700.
The reviewed period also saw 5,100enterprises completing procedures for bankruptcy. Of them, 4,600 enterpriseshad a capital base of less than 10 billion VND, down 4.5 percent.
The GSO noted that in April, 7,885 newfirms were set up with registered capital of nearly 94 trillion VND, markingdeclines of 36 percent in the number of enterprises and 29 percent inregistered capital over the previous month.
In a brighter spot, the number of enterpriseswhich resumed operations rose 11.3 percent month-on-month and 41 percentyear-on-year to 3,810.
GSO statisticians said these positivefigures indicated that enterprises are preparing for a restart to grasp newbusiness opportunities once the pandemic is contained./.