A corner of Ho Chi Minh City - Illustrative image (Source: VNA) HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City’s economy remained on the growth in the first quarter of this year, said Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong at a review meeting in early April.
The city’s Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) in Q1 reached 324.5 trillion VND (14 billion USD), an increase of 7.64 percent.
However, the services and agricultural sectors reported slower growth than in the same period last year, Phong said.
He added that the development potential of the services sector, which accounted for 63.1 percent of the city economy, remains large.
The city attracted 2.25 million foreign tourists in the period, an increase of 14.1 percent year on year.
Meanwhile, total foreign investment in the city in Q1 reached 1.55 billion USD, up 20.4 percent over the same period last year.
Specifically, 254 projects worth 288.80 million USD were newly-licensed, up 23.3 percent in volume and 4.3 percent in value.
The real estate sector lured the most, accounting for 52.7 percent. It was followed by science and technology (19.4 percent); wholesale, retail, and repair of automobiles, motorbikes, and other motorised vehicles (14.8 percent); manufacturing and processing (8 percent); lodging and dining services (1.9 percent).
During the period, 53 projects raised their capital with a total investment of 62 million USD, up 20.5 percent in volume and 15 times the value against last year.
The city allowed 799 foreign investors to buy stakes in domestic firms with a registered capital of 1.2 billion USD, marking a 19.8 percent rise in volume and 19.2 percent hike in value.
Also in Quarter 1, the total registered and additional domestic capital neared 215 trillion VND (9.34 billion USD), up 9.7 percent year-on-year.
There were over 8,600 newly-established firms with a total registered capital of more than 147 trillion VND, up 2.4 percent in volume and 46 percent in value.
Over 23,100 enterprises registered additional capital at a combined value of upwards of 67.8 trillion VND.-VNA
