Ho Chi Minh City’s GDP growth rate will remain high at over 9.5 percent in the second half of this year despite economic difficulties, heard a conference in the city on June 20.

To that end, a professor from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics suggested the locality take more drastic measures to develop the support industry.

Meanwhile, Van Duc Muoi, General Director of the Vissan Company said that the city should enhance its role as the country’s locomotive by building an integrated value chain in production in the regional scale.

According to the municipal Institute for Development Studies, boosting the export of rice and vegetables to and the import of materials from ASEAN member countries and encouraging the innovation of technology and machinery are the main measures to help the city stabilise its economy in the last six months.

The institute also urged the locality to promptly build a material centre for the garment and footwear sectors and continue implementing effective programmes, including those helping connect banks with businesses and stabilise the market.

In the first half of 2014, Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s largest economic hub, recorded a GDP growth rate of 8.2 percent, reaching nearly 380 trillion VND (17.8 billion USD). The services sector rose 9.6 percent, accounting for 59.4 percent of the total GDP, followed by the industrial and construction sector and the agricultural sector.-VNA