Ho Chi Minh City plans to help enterprises, especially small-and-medium sized ones (SMEs), gain access to loans worth 20 trillion VND (952 million USD) to renovate their technologies for higher production and business performance.

Since early this year, loans worth 12 trillion VND (571 million USD) have come to business owners.

Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Hoang Quan revealed this year’s plan at the 18th meeting of the municipal Party Committee executive board on July 4.

He predicted that a flow of capital will be poured into the city between now and the rest of the year, going particularly to hi-tech parks and the support industry.

Quan said though the agriculture sector recorded slower growth than last year, it is embracing technological advances and bio-technology to turn out quality products.

HCM City contributed 121.9 trillion VND (5.8 billion USD) to the State budget, or 54 percent of its 2014 plan, which is in part thanks to better taxation management and incentives for production and trading.

Standing Deputy Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Vo Van Thuong, in his opening remarks, also acknowledged the city’s encouraging accomplishments during the period, especially in economic growth, social investment, public health care, education-training, construction of new rural areas, sustainable poverty reduction and social welfare.

Thuong said the meeting is a crucial start to prepare for the 40 th anniversary of the southern liberation and the 10 th Congress of the Party Committee.

About the construction of a monument dedicated to President Ho Chi Minh, Thuong demanded that it be done before March 31, 2015.-VNA