Hanoi (VNA) – Whole sale, retail, and vehicle repair servicesaw the joining of 16,100 new businesses, the highest number in the first fourmonths of this year, up 14 percent year on year and accounting for 37.2 percentof the newly-established firms of the country, according to the GeneralStatistics Office (GSO).

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

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

Accordingto the GSO, as many as 43,305 new enterprises with total registered capital of542.4 trillion VND (32.32 billion USD) were established in the first fourmonths of 2019, up 4.9 percent in the number of firms and 31.7 percent incapital.

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

Thetotal number of employees working in the new companies is 440,100, a year onyear increase of 35.2 percent.

Thenew companies’ registered capital helped raise the total new investment pouredinto the economy in the period to 1.41 trillion VND (60.8 billion USD), whichincluded 872 trillion VND (37.49 billion USD) added into the operatingcompanies.

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

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

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

Meanwhile, 5,305 enterprises had completed dissolvingprocedures in the first four months of 2019, a rise of 12.9 percent year onyear.-VNA