The average registered capital of newly established enterprises increased sharply in the first eight months of the year. Photo cafef.vn

HÀ NỘI — The average registered capital of newly established enterprises in the first eight months in 2019 increased by 27 per cent year-on-year to VNĐ12.7 billion (US$545 million), the highest level in recent years, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

During this period, the country had 90,487 newly established enterprises with total registered capital of VNĐ1.15 quadrillion, up 3.5 per cent in number of enterprises and 31 per cent in registered capital against the same period last year.

However, the GSO said that in August, the country had 11,177 newly established firms, down 9.5 per cent month-on-month. Total registered capital of the firms still rose 8.7 per cent against July. Average registered capital per enterprise reached VNĐ13.5 billion, up 20.1 per cent month-on-month.

In the month, there were 1,587 enterprises returning to operations, down 41 per cent from the previous month.

According to analysts on bizlive.vn, the number of new firms and firms resuming operations in August decreased against the previous month because the seventh month of the lunar calendar – known as Ghost Month in Việt Nam and some other Asian countries – is believed to be a period of bad luck. During this time, people often avoid making important decisions like starting a business.

In the first eight months of this year, most sectors had growth in the number of newly-established firms, including the construction sector (up 0.8 per cent), the processing and manufacturing sector (up 5.4 per cent), the science and technology, consulting services, design, advertising and other specialities (up 14.2 per cent) and real estate (up 20.2 per cent).

Four sectors saw a decrease in the number of newly established enterprises compared to the same period last year, including wholesale, retail, and car and motorcycle repair (down 0.5 per cent), accommodation and catering services (down 5.7 per cent), the transport and logistic sector (down 1.1 per cent) and the finance, banking and insurance sector (20.2 per cent).

The number of enterprises temporarily ceasing business in the first eight months was 20,100, down 7 per cent over the same period last year.