Ho Chi Minh City ’s economy has developed well in the first quarter of this year with a gain of more than 74.1 trillion VND in GDP, a rise of 11 percent over the same period last year.

Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Le Hoang Quan made these remarks at a conference on March 29 discussing the city’s socio-economic performance in the first quarter.

The rise was fuelled by increases of 10.5 percent for the services sector, 11.7 percent for the industrial and construction areas, and 6.2 percent for the agricultural sector, he emphasised.

“The city has for the first time in many years posted a GDP growth rate in the first quarter of the new year much higher than the last quarter of the previous year,” Quan said.

Regarding the GDP growth rate of over 11 percent, the municipal leader asked branches and sectors to continue to implement the set socio-economic targets and focus on measures to reign in inflation and mitigate its impact on the people.

He also requested that branches and sectors decisively halt the implementation of ineffective and unnecessary projects, as well as step up capital disbursement for projects.

Municipal businesses were called on to save energy and reduce input costs, to keep production costs low and ensure the competitiveness of their products.

At the meeting, HCM City authorities asked relevant agencies to deal with unemployment, traffic congestion, and food safety and hygiene issues effectively in addition to regulating the market to stabilise prices./.