A total of 8,276 new enterprises were established in the first month of 2020, down 17.9 percent year-on-year, but the total registered capital of the firms surged sharply by 76.8 percent to 267.2 trillion VND (11.55 billion USD), the highest growth rate in four years, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported.

(Illustrative photo: VNA)

With the surge, average registered capital of new enterprises was at 32.3 billion VND, up 115.3 percent year-on-year.

The decline in the number of new enterprises in January was attributed to the country’s largest festival – Lunar New Year – while the sharp surge in capital was thanks to the establishment of a new enterprise in the finance-banking-insurance industry that had a registered capital of 144 trillion VND (6.22 billion USD), accounting for 53.9 percent of the total registered capital.

The new enterprises created 84,500 jobs, down 21.7 percent year-on-year.

January also saw 8,470 enterprises resuming operations, a rise of 0.1 percent against the same period last year, bringing the total number of newly-registered and revived enterprises in January to 16,746.

A number of industries witnessed significant declines in the number of newly-established enterprises in the month. Motorbike and automobile trading and repair was down 38.6 percent year-on-year; mining, down 32.6 percent, healthcare and social welfare down 23.9 percent, construction down 15.1 percent and manufacturing and processing down 7 percent.

However, five industries saw the number of newly established enterprises increasing, including production and distribution of electricity, gas and water up 8.6 percent; information and communications up 8 percent; science, technology, consultancy, design, advertising and others up 4.6 percent; education and training up 2 percent; and catering services and accommodation up 0.2 percent.

The GSO also reported that the number of enterprises temporarily ceasing operations in January was 11,702, up 8.3 percent year-on-year.

The number of enterprises which finished procedures for bankruptcy in the period was 1,621, down 10 percent from the same period last year. Of the enterprises, 1,451 had registered capital of less than 10 billion VND.