Nearly 11,000 businesses were dissolved or suspended their operations inJanuary, reflecting a 23 percent increase from a year ago, according tothe General Statistics Office.

Of these, the number of dissolvedfirms, which were mostly small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) was993, with a registered capital of less than 10 billion VND (470,000USD), while more than 9,700 companies suspended operations.

However, the official figures revealed that over 2,800 businesses had resumed operations.

Around6,900 enterprises were newly established, with a total registeredcapital of 31.7 trillion VND (1.48 billion USD), representing 27 percentdrop from last year.

Accordingly, the average registered capitalwas pegged at 4.6 billion VND for each company, down 20 percent incomparison with the same period last year.

In addition, thenumber of labourers for newly-established companies slipped by 7.4percent from the corresponding period last year.

Notably, somesectors saw a growth in the number of new firms, such as entertainmentwith 147 percent, education and training at 45 percent and real-estatetrading at 42 percent.

The sectors of healthcare, electricity,gas and water distribution, as well as mineral exploration, wholesale,retail, and automobile repairs, saw fewer new companies being opened.

GSOsaid the number of labourers in localities with a big industrial scale,including Thai Nguyen, Hai Duong, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, as well asQuang Nam, Hai Phong and HCM City sharply surged from the same periodlast year.-VNA