Whole sale, retail, and vehicle repair service saw the joining of 16,100 new businesses, the highest number in the first four months of this year, up 14 percent year on year and accounting for 37.2 percent of the newly-established firms of the country, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The sectors were followed by construction with 5,800 new firms, making up 13.3 percent of the total new businesses, and processing-manufacturing with nearly 5,500 new firms, and real estate with nearly 2,500 new companies.

On the contrary, accommodation and catering services saw 4.3 percent decrease in the number of new firms compared to the same period last year, while finance-banking sector suffered a drop of 13.3 percent.

According to the GSO, as many as 43,305 new enterprises with total registered capital of 542.4 trillion VND (32.32 billion USD) were established in the first four months of 2019, up 4.9 percent in the number of firms and 31.7 percent in capital.

Average registered capital of a firm was 12.5 billion VND (537.5 million USD), a rise of 25 percent over the same period last year, reported the office.

The total number of employees working in the new companies is 440,100, a year on year increase of 35.2 percent.

The new companies’ registered capital helped raise the total new investment poured into the economy in the period to 1.41 trillion VND (60.8 billion USD), which included 872 trillion VND (37.49 billion USD) added into the operating companies.

The Red River Delta region took the lead in the number of new firms with 13,200 companies, up 8.3 percent, while the midland and northern mountainous region saw a fall of 7.2 percent year on year with only 1,700 new enterprises.

Up to 17,463 companies resumed their operations in the period, up 52.6 percent against the same time last year, raising the total number of operating firms to nearly 60,800.

The number of businesses halting their operation in the first four months of this year was 16,984, up 19.7 percent year on year. More than 17,200 firms stopped its operations for undertaking dissolving procedures.

Meanwhile, 5,305 enterprises had completed dissolving procedures in the first four months of 2019, a rise of 12.9 percent year on year.