Ho Chi Minh City from above. (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City posted 585 trillion VND (25.74 billion USD) in the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) in the first half of 2018, a growth of 7.76 percent from the same period last year, as heard at a meeting on July 3.
The meeting was held by the municipal People’s Committee to review the local socio-economic development for the January-June period with Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong in attendance.
The city’s total revenue from retail sales of consumer goods and services rose by 12.5 percent year-on-year to 510.19 trillion VND (nearly 22 billion USD), while its earnings from exports reached 18.12 billion USD, up 7.6 percent year-on-year.
Approximately 184 trillion VND (7.9 billion USD) was collected for the State budget during the period, making up about 48.7 percent of the yearly target.
Some 21,500 new enterprises were set up with the total registered capital of nearly 249 trillion VND (10.7 billion USD), while 483 FDI projects, worth a total of over 486.5 million USD, were granted investment licences. Most of the new FDI projects were seen in the sectors of manufacturing and processing, retail and wholesale, and real estate.
Despite such encouraging growth, the local economy showed weaknesses. The city’s four key industries only accounted for 10 percent of the GRDP: food processing (2.97 percent), mechanical manufacturing (2.54 percent), chemicals-pharmaceuticals-rubber (2.33 percent), and electronics (2.17 percent).
To address the issue, Phong requested relevant departments and agencies to hold dialogues with industrial producers with capital exceeding 100 billion VND to learn about their difficulties and come up with proper solutions to facilitate their production and boost the industry.
Ho Chi Minh City set to achieve a GRDP growth rate of 8.3-8.5 percent this year. It also aims to establish 46,000 new enterprises, cut the poverty rate by 1 percent, and generate jobs for 130,000 labourers. -VNA
