At the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee’s socioeconomic meeting for August, held on September 4, departments and agencies said the sharp increase in businesses leaving the market was mainly administrative in nature and did not reflect an actual weakening in business health.
Reporting at the meeting, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Finance, Hoang Vu Thanh, said the number of businesses dissolved in the city during the first eight months of 2026 surged by 164.46 percent.
Specifically, 38,253 new businesses were established in the first eight months, up 7.9 percent year on year, while 13,582 businesses resumed operations, down 2.9 percent. The number of businesses exiting the market reached 43,093, up 24.4 percent. Of these, 9,703 completed dissolution procedures, up 164.46 percent, while 33,390 temporarily suspended operations, up 7.82 percent.
Explaining the sharp increase, the Director of the Department of Finance said it was mainly attributable to the Government’s and the Ministry of Finance’s decisive efforts to clean up the business database. The ministry has required authorities this year to focus on reviewing and definitively handling tax identification numbers of businesses that were registered but had in fact ceased operations long ago, addressing cases that had not been fully dealt with previously.
Sharing the view on the sharp increase, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies, Pham Binh An, said the figure was clearly more a matter of “administrative technicalities” than a reflection of current economic difficulties.
According to Mr. Pham Binh An, these were essentially businesses that had ceased operations for years, generated no revenue, and paid no taxes but remained “on hold” in the system because they had not completed dissolution procedures. As efforts to clean up tax identification numbers were stepped up, these businesses were required to undergo reviews and complete the necessary legal procedures to officially dissolve.
“The increase in business dissolutions helps clean up the investment environment and make data more transparent but does not negatively affect the city’s double-digit growth momentum,” he affirmed.
He proposed that Ho Chi Minh City review and simplify the relevant procedures and introduce solutions to clear some outstanding cases, as the costs of completing dissolution procedures and exiting the market remain relatively high.
From the perspective of the agency directly implementing the campaign, Giang Van Hien, Deputy Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department, agreed with the above assessments. He explained that the situation was the result of a buildup over many years, involving businesses that had encountered difficulties or no longer wished to operate but had yet to complete procedures to close their tax identification numbers.
He emphasized that the latest tax identification number cleanup campaign aims to create a more substantive, healthy, and transparent business environment. This will enable management agencies to accurately assess the actual capacity of operating businesses and protect them from the risk of inadvertently purchasing invoices illegally issued by “shell companies” that exist only on paper.
Regarding the implementation timeline, Mr. Hien said the tax authorities were stepping up the campaign and striving to fully resolve outstanding cases this year. To help individuals and businesses exit the market smoothly, the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department has reported to the Ministry of Finance and proposed fundamental solutions, including an appropriate mechanism to support the costs of closing tax identification numbers for businesses that have ceased operations for many years.
