Up to 477,808 businesses had been operating nationwide throughout 2016, a year-on-year rise of 8 percent.

The figures were released at a press conference jointly held in Hanoi on April 11by the General Statistics Office (GSO), the Steering Committee for Enterprise Reform and Development and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

The southern largest economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City and the capital city of Hanoi were home to the largest numbers of enterprises, which respectively accounted for 33.6 percent and 23.1 percent of the total figure.

The number of newly-established businesses in 2016 hit a record of more than 110,000, surging 16.2 percent against the previous year’s figure.

Of those, 98,757 businesses began their operations, only 13.72 percent of which operate in the processing and manufacturing sectors and they made modest contributions to the nation’s economy.

Statistics also showed that businesses contributed 746 trillion VND (almost 32.9 billion USD) to the State budget in 2015.

VNA