A corner of HCM City (Photo: VNA)
HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City’s gross regionaldomestic product (GRDP) was estimated at over 406.34 trillion VND (16.34 billion USD)in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 6.54%, the highest growth recorded for Q1 since 2020, heard a meeting of the municipal People’s Committee on April 2.
The service sector remained the key locomotive of the city’s economic developmentduring January – March, contributing 71.6% to the growth and accountedfor 65.5% of the economic structure.
Meanwhile, industry posted positive expansion and contributed 16.4% to theoverall growth. The local index of industrial production climbed 5.1%, higher thanHanoi with 3.6%, Da Nang 0.6%, Can Tho 2.1% but lower than Hai Phong 12.6%.
State budget collection was also a bright spot with more than 138.54 trillionVND, rising 7.6% against the same time last year.
The city gained 10.1 billion USD from exports and spent 13.1 billion USDon imports, year-on-year increases of 7.5% and 3.1%, respectively.
Earnings from tourism grew 23.8% to an estimated 44.71 trillion VND.
During the period, there were 12,433 enterprises entering the market,registering 106.12 trillion VND in capital, up 12.01% in enterprise number and8.47% in capital from the same time last year. However, 15,600 firms haltedtheir operation, expanding 20.64% year-on-year.
Despite sound economic situation in Quarter 1, Chairman of the provincialPeople’s Committee Phan Van Mai pointed to several challenges thathampered economic growth, including low credit growth, a sluggish recoveryof the realty market, and a fall in FDI attraction.
He called on competent departments and sectors to pen solutions to thecurrent problems so as to achieve better economic performance in the followingquarters.
He particularly stressed that the city must disburse 73 trillion VND in public investment by the endof the year, asking districts and relevant sectors to join hands to removebottlenecks to realise the set target./.
