Building a solid legal foundation for business development

According to data just released by the General Statistics Office (Ministry of Finance), in the first 8 months of 2025, the whole country had 209,200 newly registered and re-operated enterprises, an increase of 24.5% over the same period last year - the strongest increase in the past 3 years.

On average, 26,200 new businesses are established or resume operations each month. This is clearly a positive sign, indicating that business confidence remains strong. However, to accurately assess the health of businesses in particular and the economy in general, more data is needed.

According to the General Statistics Office, the average registered capital of newly established businesses in the first eight months reached VND 9.8 billion, a 9% increase compared to the same period in 2024. The total additional registered capital injected into the economy exceeded VND 4.1 million billion, a significant 105.3% increase compared to the same period last year. Furthermore, the industrial production index (IIP) increased by 8.5% year-on-year; the manufacturing sector alone achieved double-digit growth, contributing 8.1 percentage points to the overall increase. Notably, the IIP increased in all 34 localities.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) continues its positive momentum. In the first eight months of the year, realized FDI reached US$15.4 billion, an increase of 8.8% compared to the same period last year. Vietnamese businesses also demonstrated proactiveness by investing in 108 new overseas projects, with a total registered capital of over US$426 million; including adjusted capital, the total overseas investment reached US$556.1 million (3.8 times higher than the same period in 2024).

However, challenges remain. The pace of production recovery varies across localities: Da Nang saw a 1.7% decrease, while Bac Ninh experienced a 1.2% decline, despite both being key industrial areas. Industrial production is under pressure from US tariff policies and global geopolitical fluctuations, leading to a decline in market demand. New orders in August fell again after a slight increase in July.

According to a report by Finance Minister Nguyen Van Thang at the August government meeting, exports are slowing down, with August growth reaching only 11.4% compared to the same period last year, and the situation is expected to continue to be challenging.

In another development, from thousands of opinions and recommendations gathered from the local rounds of the Vietnam Private Economic Forum 2025, many issues were raised. Among them were many familiar "bottlenecks," such as: difficulties in accessing credit for small, micro, and start-up businesses; difficulties in accessing land and business premises; cumbersome and delayed administrative procedures; and a shortage of trained human resources.

Clearly, business confidence remains, as evidenced by the number of businesses entering the market and the amount of investment capital injected into production and business. However, much work remains to be done to nurture that enthusiasm.

Besides the traditional "addressing problems as they arise" solutions that have been frequently mentioned for a long time, it is necessary to further improve the legal environment more quickly, with bolder policies, strengthening the "foundation" for businesses to confidently promote innovation; boldly invest capital in production, business and sustainable development.

ANH THU

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/xay-be-do-phap-ly-vung-chac-cho-doanh-nghiep-phat-trien-post812199.html