Vietnam sees record new business in 2016

A man welds a steel bed at a furniture factory outside Hanoi. Photo by Reuters/Kham

The new 110,000 businesses could create nearly 1.3 million jobs.

Vietnam saw a record number of business openings in 2016, shedding hopes for robust growth and strong investment in the near future.

A new report from the Ministry of Investment and Planning said the past year saw 110,000 new businesses open, up 16.2 percent from 2015. Registered capital increased 48 percent to more than VND891 trillion ($39 billion).

These new companies are expected to create nearly 1.3 million jobs, independent of the nearly 26,700 firms who suspended operations during tough times only to resume operations in the past 12 months.

Vice Minister Dang Duy Dong described the numbers as “lively.”

“With such energy and investmentopportunities, the market will surely be more competitive and the economy will leap strongly,” the government report quoted Dong as saying.

More than 36,000 new businessescame online in Ho Chi Minh City and nearly 23,000 in Hanoi.

New openings in the real estate sector increased almost 84 percent from last year, while education and healthcare openings increased 43 and 52 percent, respectively.

Arts, entertainment and agriculture businesses all dropped from last year.

But the ministry’s report also revealed a dark side of the boom.

Bankruptcies surged 32 percent to nearly 12,578, including in both agriculture and real estate.

Vietnam hopes to see over one million businesses in operation by 2020, which means an average of 100,000 openings every year.

Source: Bao Vnexpress