The ministry's Business Registration Management Department said around 33,000 of them registered to temporarily suspend operations, a 40 percent increase and the highest number since 2015.

Most of the dissolved and suspended businesses were small, with capital of less than VND10 billion ($430,600), and had been in operation for less than five years.

The real estate, entertainment, lodging, and catering sectors had the highest rate of suspensions.
Some 8,940 have gone out of business while 21,800 are awaiting completion of dissolution procedures, the largest number of the latter being in wholesale, retail, processing, and construction.

Between January and July, 75,000 enterprises were newly established in the period, the lowest number in the last five years.

But the number resuming operations after temporarily shutting up shop was 28,500, an 18 percent increase.

From comparing current data with that of the early part of the year, it could be seen that the negative impact of the epidemic is slowing down, the department added.