About 3,800 business entities - companies, sole proprietorships and limited liability partnerships - were formed amid the Covid-19 outbreak in April.

This is a drop of about one-third from the average of 5,500 recorded in the same month from 2015 to last year, and it is due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Chee Hong Tat told Parliament yesterday.

"Most sectors saw a fall in the formation of new business entities during this period," he added.

Similarly, about 3,800 business entities folded in April, but this is comparable to the average of 3,700 recorded over the same month in the past five years, Mr Chee said.

The Trade and Industry Ministry expects the number of new business entities formed to remain subdued as the pandemic could severely affect many sectors of the economy for the rest of the year.

Mr Chee warned that the number of companies closing could rise.

"Outward-oriented sectors, such as wholesale trade, will be adversely affected by the global economic slowdown, while the air transport and tourism sectors will continue to be badly affected by travel restrictions," Mr Chee said.

Retail and food services will also be adversely impacted by reduced demand from tourists and local consumers, he added.

"It is not possible to avoid firm closures and retrenchments. These were happening even before Covid-19, but with (the pandemic), we must expect the situation to worsen," he said.

Mr Chee said that the Government has set up the National Jobs Council to help workers.

"We will do our best. We will rally together. We will bring on board all tripartite partners. We will support one another and spare no effort to achieve our goals," he added.

Bright spots remain amid the gloomy economy. Sectors that continue to grow include biomedical manufacturing and information and communications, Mr Chee said.

Figures from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority showed that 693 business entities were registered as part of the wholesale trade industry in April, while 695 closed.

Retail trade had 543 new business entities but lost 362 entities in the same period.

In the professional, scientific and technical activities sectors, 583 business entities closed, while 632 were registered.

Associate Professor Lawrence Loh of the National University of Singapore Business School said the biggest lesson companies have learnt during the outbreak is that the business path is not always going from "good to great", but sometimes, and more importantly, from "good to going".

"It is critical that a company can keep on going, come what may," he added.