The spirit of start-up in the context of the pandemic

According to data on the socio-economic situation in the second quarter and the first six months of the year announced by the General Statistics Office on June 29, newly registered enterprises reached 67,100 in the first six months of 2021, increasing by 8.1% over the same period last year and by 34.3% in registered capital.

The increase in the number and capital of newly registered enterprises shows the efforts and start-up spirit of the business community in the context of the complicated pandemic.

Generally, in the first six months of the year, the total number of newly established enterprises and enterprises returning to operation reached 93,200, an increase of 6.9% over the same period in 2020.

The survey results on business trends of enterprises in the processing and manufacturing industry still recorded a positive assessment in the second quarter of 2021, when 68.2% of enterprises said that their production and business activities improved and remained stable compared to the first quarter of this year.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong, General Director of the General Statistics Office, if including VND1,152.5 trillion of additional registered capital of 23,700 enterprises which change to increase capital, the total registered capital added to the economy was VND2,095.1 trillion in the first six months of 2021.

In addition, 26,100 enterprises returned to operation, up 3.9% over the same period last year, bringing the total number of newly established enterprises and enterprises returning to operation 93,200 enterprises in the first six months of 2021, an average of 15,500 enterprises are newly established and returned to operation every month.

The fourth wave of Covid-19 has severely affected enterprises, especially in June
(illustration photo) Photo: Huong Diu.

Service industry is struggling

Assessing the impact of the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic on enterprises, especially enterprises in IZs and EPZs, Pham Dinh Thuy, Director of the Department of Industry and Construction Statistics, said the fourth Covid-19 wave has had a very heavy impact on enterprises, especially in June. Specifically, the number of newly registered enterprises has decreased significantly while the number of enterprises temporarily suspending business or completing procedures for dissolution continued to increase.

Accordingly, in June, the number of newly established enterprises decreased by 17.6% over the same period last year. The number of enterprises temporarily suspending business increased by 20.2%, while the number of enterprises completing dissolution procedures increased by 40.3%. Notably, in the first six months of this year, there were 70,200 enterprises temporarily suspending business, stopping operations waiting for dissolution procedures and completing dissolution procedures, an increase of 24.9% compared to the same period of 2020.

In which, the industry with the largest number of dissolved enterprises is the service sector (more than 7,420 enterprises), up 30.9% over the same period last year. The industry sector has a lower number of dissolved enterprises (more than 2,300 enterprises) but the dissolution rate is very fast (up 43.1%). The above figures shows that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is quite heavy on enterprises.

“The fourth wave of the pandemic in May and June has severely affected enterprises in general and especially industrial production enterprises in particular. Bac Giang is hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic when employment of industrial sector decreased by 64% because industrial production of Bac Giang only increased by 9% in the first six months of the year. If not affected by the pandemic, the index of industrial production in Bac Giang is expected to increase by 30-40%,” said Pham Dinh Thuy.

The results of the survey on business trends of enterprises in the processing and manufacturing industries in the second quarter of 2021 showed that 30.5% of enterprises rated it better than in the first quarter of 2021; 37.7% of enterprises said that the production and business situation was stable and 31.8% of enterprises said that they faced difficulties.

On the business situation in the third quarter, 39.2% of enterprises assessed that the trend would be better compared to the second quarter of 2021; 22.2% of enterprises forecast more difficulties and 38.6% of enterprises thought that the production and business situation would be stable.