Number of newly-established firms hits record

                                                                      Photo: Duc Anh

New enterprises reach 110,100 in 2016, up 16.2% against 2015.

The number of newly-established enterprises hit a record high of 110,100 in 2016, up 16.2 per cent against 2015, according to the Agency for Business Registration at the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Committed capital was over VND891 trillion ($39.2 billion), averaging VND8.09 billion ($355,960) at each newly established enterprise, up 48.1 per cent year-on-year. The number of businesses resuming operations after being temporarily suspended reached 26,689, up 43.1 per cent from 2015.

The figures reflect the recent growth of Vietnamese enterprises and improvements in the investment climate, providing impetus for the country’s economic development during international integration, according to Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dang Huy Dong.

The newly-established enterprises created nearly 1.3 million jobs, with most being in real estate, healthcare and social assistance, and education and training, where enterprise numbers increased 83.9 per cent, 52 per cent and 43.1 per cent, respectively, year-on-year.

Conversely, the number of newly-established enterprises fell in sectors such as arts and entertainment, by 26.2 per cent, and agriculture, by 15 per cent.

Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City saw the highest number of new businesses, with 36,442 and 22,663, respectively, accounting for 53.7 per cent of the total. They were followed by Binh Duong, Da Nang, Dong Nai, Hai Phong and Khanh Hoa.

Vietnam targets to have at least 1 million by 2020 and the private sector will account for 48-49 per cent of the country’s GDP, according to the Government Resolution No. 35 to support and develop enterprises.

Vietnam embarked on a thorough process of improving its business climate and national competitiveness in 2014, with the issuance of Government Resolution No. 19.

The government is also promoting an entrepreneurial spirit and making Vietnam a promising startup nation, as part of efforts to develop the private sector, which has been defined as the driver of socioeconomic growth.

A law on supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is being drafted. There are now more than 500,000 enterprises in Vietnam, of which some 97 per cent are SMEs.

by Ngoc Chi / VET