Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) – After the first seven months of 2026, Ho Chi Minh City’s economy has continued to maintain positive growth momentum, but pressure to achieve its double-digit growth target for the year is mounting.
The southern economic hub has identified accelerating public investment disbursement, strongly mobilising private-sector resources, promoting exports and consumption, and removing bottlenecks as key priorities to generate additional growth drivers in the remaining months of the year. These priorities were highlighted by its leadership at a conference on the implementation of socio-economic tasks for August and key measures for the rest of the year, held on August 12.
Hoang Vu Thanh, Director of the municipal Department of Finance, said the city’s economy broadly followed its projected scenario during the first seven months. Total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue reached 1.133 quadrillion VND (43.51 billion USD), up 13.3%, while tourism revenue stood at 237.4 trillion VND, up 55.3%. Exports reached 57.84 billion USD, up 8.77%, and imports 63.48 billion USD, up 11.61%. The index of industrial production (IIP) rose 10.7%, with manufacturing and processing increasing 11.2%.
Financial and banking activities remained stable, with total deposits rising 16.07% and outstanding credit increasing 18.42%. State budget revenue exceeded 575.46 trillion VND, up 20.7%, while FDI attraction surpassed 9.8 billion USD, up 44.45%. By the end of July, public investment disbursement had reached more than 63.77 trillion VND, equivalent to 43.2% of the assigned annual plan.
Despite these positive results, Thanh said pressure on the annual growth target is becoming increasingly evident. Production, business and exports continue to face difficulties due to global supply chain fluctuations, rising logistics costs and higher prices of input materials, which are affecting businesses’ resilience and profit margins. Planning work also remains hampered by an unsynchronised planning system, while the updating and digitisation of data following administrative restructuring have been slow. Several major public investment projects are facing difficulties related to compensation, site clearance, resettlement and specialised procedures.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Khac Hoang, Director of the municipal Statistics Office, said that to achieve the annual growth target of 10.2%, the city would need to post growth of 11.7% in the third quarter and 12.3% in the fourth quarter. This leaves little room for delay and calls for more decisive growth management.
Bui Ta Hoang Vu, Director of the municipal Department of Industry and Trade, said that amid continuing difficulties in exports, consumption and services would remain important growth drivers. Total wholesale and retail sales are currently rising 16.7%, exceeding the target of 11.5%. The department will continue implementing promotional and demand-stimulation programmes for the New Year and Lunar New Year holidays to sustain purchasing power, support businesses in selling their goods and generate additional growth momentum in the final months of the year.
Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Van Duoc said achieving double-digit growth in 2026 would be extremely challenging, but the entire political system must pool its efforts and resources to accomplish the target. As Vietnam’s economic locomotive, every 1% increase in Ho Chi Minh City’s growth is equivalent to 0.24% growth for the national economy; therefore, failure to meet the city’s target would have a significant impact on overall national growth.
The city aims to achieve 70% public investment disbursement in the third quarter and complete 100% by the fourth quarter, he added./.
source
