Nearly 37,600 new firms were formed in Vietnam with a total registered capital of VND445.2 trillion (US$19.1 billion) in the first four months of this year, down 13.2% in number and 18% in capital year-on-year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Garment production in Vietnam (Photo: VNA) 

Average registered capital per new enterprise was VND11.8 billion (US$506,400) during this period, down 5.5% compared to the same period in 2019, the General Statistics Office (GSO) has said in a monthly report.

Taking into account VND680.9 trillion of additional capital injected by operating enterprises, total registered capital pumped into the economy in the January-April period hit more than VND1.1 quadrillion, a year-on-year decline of 20.4%. 

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

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

In the four-month period, 17,800 enterprises resumed operations, a yearly hike of 2.1%, 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% year-on-year to 315,700.

It said due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of enterprises temporarily ceasing operations from January to April surged 34% 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 VND10 billion, down 4.5%.

The GSO noted that in April, 7,885 new firms were set up with registered capital of nearly VND94 trillion, marking declines of 36% in the number of enterprises and 29% in registered capital over the previous month.

In a brighter spot, the number of enterprises which resumed operations rose 11.3% month-on-month and 41% 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.