HCM City’s Stimulus via Investments programme is successfully resolving financial difficulties for enterprises and contributing to restructuring the industrial sector, according to industrial officials.

From 2009 to 2014, HCM City approved 209 projects for its stimulus programme with a total investment capital of 17.6 trillion VND (820 million USD), 8.47 trillion of which will be loaned at a discounted interest rate.

The city has consistently given priority to projects in four key industries, helping raise their proportion in the entire industrial sector from 54 percent in 2006 to 59.4 percent in 2014.

Specifically, mechanics constitutes 19 percent, electronics-information technology 4.1 percent, chemical-plastics-rubber 19.2 percent and garments and textiles 17.9 percent of total industrial production, according to statistics from the city’s Industry and Trade Department.

Many experts noted a marked shift in the structure of the city’s economy in recent years, with high-tech manufacturing projects replacing labour-intensive projects.

Regarding the city’s economic restructuring project for 2013-2020, the department recommended that the city focus on core industrial sectors and especially on the quality of growth and the competitiveness of products.

Besides the four key industries, the city should invest in support, clean and energy-saving industries, it said.

In addition to providing prompt assistance in administrative procedures, legal issues, capital and technology, the city needs to encourage enterprises to take advantage of local resources such as workforces, technology, materials and equipment to reduce the import surplus.

Huynh Van Minh, President of the HCM City Union of Business Associations ( HUBA ), said the city also needs to improve the enforcement of mechanisms and polices and ensure that new regulations suit the actual production and business conditions.

HCM City is currently operating 15 processing and industrial zones and intends to add nine others by 2020, bringing the total area to 6,156 hectares.-VNA