In the first month of 2022, Viet Nam saw a surge in both the number of newly-established enterprises and registered capital compared to the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The latest GSO report showed that the whole country saw 13,000 new enterprises established in January, with registered capital of over VND192.3 trillion (US$8.47 billion), up 16 per cent in the number of enterprises and 23 per cent in registered capital month-on-month. Compared to the same period last year, these figures are 29 per cent and 24 per cent higher, respectively.

The number of businesses returning to operation also surged in all areas. This signal shows the efforts of the business community despite the pandemic, the GSO said.

Specifically, 19,100 companies returned to operation across the whole country in January, up 353 per cent compared to December 2021 and up 194 per cent over the same period last year. This brought the number of newly established and re-operating enterprises in the first month of this year total up to 32,100, surging 94 per cent year-on-year.

The average registered capital of a newly established enterprise also increased by 5.8 per cent year-on-year to reach VND14.8 billion, the report said.

If including VND343.8 trillion of additional capital registered by 5,600 operating enterprises, the total amount of additional capital registered in January was more than VND536.1 trillion, an increase of 36 per cent over the same period last year, it noted.

Head of GSO Nguyen Thi Huong said this was a positive result, continuing the momentum from the end of 2021. Last year, the continuous and effective support of the Government and functional agencies laid the foundation for the business's recovery.

In the latest move, the State recently issued Resolution No 02/NQ-CP on major tasks and solutions to improve the business environment and heighten national competitiveness in 2022.

Meanwhile, a resolution on fiscal and monetary policy to support the socio-economic recovery and development programme with a scale of VND350 trillion was passed at the first extraordinary session of the 15th National Assembly in January to meet the urgent requirements of the country, businesses and local people.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong said that the authorities were making all-out efforts to support businesses' recovery since the beginning of this year. Hopefully, these efforts would create the right conditions for businesses to operate effectively in 2022.

The ministry has just issued Decision No 44/QD-BKHDT to rapidly increase the number of newly-established enterprises, reduce the rate of enterprises dissolved or having operation halted while cutting off input and informal costs for businesses.

Top priority will be given to researching and reviewing the list of investment and conditional business lines and then removing barriers to investment and business activities due to overlapping and contradictory legal regulations.

In 2022, the Ministry of Finance will enhance administrative reform, especially procedures directly related to people, businesses and State agencies while focusing on simplifying business conditions.

Nguyen Minh Thao, head of the Research Department on Business Environment and Competitiveness, said there was room for authorities to speed up administrative reform to better support businesses.

Thao also emphasised the importance of promptly detecting and removing overlaps and contradictions in regulations that might affect the establishment of enterprises.

Good signals for fast recovery

Pham Xuan Hong, chairman of Saigon Garment 3 Joint Stock Company, said although last year there was a time when many garment businesses in the south experienced production interrupted and they had to shift some orders to factories in the north, they could still fulfil orders.

Thanks to its flexible adaptability, Vietnamese textile and garment companies were highly appreciated by foreign partners and continued to sign new orders as soon as they resumed their production activities, said Hong who is also chairman of the HCM City Textile and Garment-Embroidery Association.

Pham Van Viet, chairman of Viet Thang Jean Co, said his company had orders until the end of the second quarter and was focusing on expanding its production to increase exports. If the current productivity was maintained, his company's growth this year would be 15 per cent higher than in 2021.

After the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, most businesses in the south have returned to work.

According to the Tra Vinh Economic Zone (EZ) Management Board, by February 8, the majority of enterprises in two zones - Dinh An and Long Duc - restarted their production, with a total of 15,600 workers returning to work.

In Binh Duong Province, about 81 per cent of businesses were operating by February 8 with the number of employees returned to work reaching 72 per cent. — VNS