In January 2020, Vietnam has seen nearly 8,300 enterprises set up, down 17.9% year-on-year, but the combined registered capital per newly-established enterprise has risen 76.8%, the best January growth rate in four years, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Data: GSO. Chart: Ngoc Thuy.

This resulted in an average registered capital of new establishments at VND32.3 billion (US$1.39 million), up 115.3% year-on-year.

A decline in the figure of new busines formations was due to the fact that the Lunar New Year Festival falls in January, while the combined registered capital was VND267.2 trillion (US$11.53 billion), up 76.8% year-on-year.

Excluding one Hanoi-based new enterprise in the field of banking, finance and insurance with registered capital of VND144 trillion (US$6.21 billion), accounting for 53.9% of total registered capital, the average registered capital of newly established businesses was VND14.9 billion (US$643,444).

If including VND234.2 trillion (US$10.11 billion) of additional capital pumped by operational enterprises, total registered capital added to the economy in January was VND501.4 trillion (US$21.65 billion). 

Besides, 8,470 enterprises resumed operation, a rise of 0.1% against the similar period last year, bringing the total number of newly-registered and revived enterprises in January to 16,746.

A number of fields witnessed significant declines in the number of newly-established enterprises, including wholesale, retail, automobile repair, down 38.6% year-on-year; mining, down 32.6%; healthcare and social support, down 23.9%; construction, down 15.1%; manufacturing and processing, down 7%.

Meanwhile, the number of newly established enterprises increased in five sectors compared to last January, namely production and distribution of electricity, gas and water, up 8.6%; information and communications, up 8%; science, technology, consultancy, design, advertising and others, up 4.6%; education and training, up 2%, catering services and accommodation, up 0.2%.

Total number of laborers of newly-established enterprises in January period was 84,500, down 21.7% against the same period last year, according to the government-run agency.

The number of enterprises temporarily ceasing operation in the period was 11,702, up 8.3% year-on-year.

Moreover, the number of enterprises which finished the procedures for bankruptcy in the period was 1,621, down 10% from the same period last year, of which there were 1,451 enterprises with capital base of less than VND10 billion (US$429,380), down 12.5%.