HCMC authorities seek to stir up slow growth

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s southern economic hub, is set to spur its gross regional domestic product (GRDP) during the rest of this year.

In the first quarter, the economic powerhouse’s GRDP expanded a mere 0.7% year-on-year, the lowest among Vietnam’s five centrally-run cities. The four others are Hanoi and Hai Phong in the north, Danang in the central region, and Can Tho in the Mekong delta.

At a meeting held Saturday to review HCMC’s Q1 growth results, city Party leader Nguyen Van Nen asked all relevant agencies to speed up growth in the second, third, and fourth quarters.

The head of the HCMC Party Committee said that in the past few days, many scientists, experts, and socio-economic policy researchers have raised questions and analyzed the city's problems. "This shows that the whole society worries about the city’s present situation. Therefore, we need to make more efforts.”

Veteran economist Dr. Tran Du Lich told the meeting that the three key growth drivers for HCMC are public investment promotion, handling institutional issues, and spurring the local market, but the economic hub did not utilize them well in Q1.

"Ho Chi Minh City has to tackle obstacles in both public and private investment,” he said. “Another must is to provide transparent information to recover trust from businesses. Once businesses have confidence again, investment will return to support economic growth.”

If the city is determined in fighting stagnation in its administrative system, taking specific action instead of speaking, fruits would arrive in the following quarters, Lich stressed.

The HCMC Statistics Office announced Thursday that the metropolis’s GRDP grew just 0.7% in Q1. It attracted $497.5 million in registered FDI capital, up 22.4% year-on-year.

Between January and March, the city issued new investment licenses to 216 projects worth $133.2 million, up 30%. Singapore remained the leading investor in HCMC with 47 licensed projects worth $86.7 million, or 65.4% of total FDI channeled into the city in the three months.

Hong Kong came second with 15 projects worth $9.5 million, accounting for 7.1%, followed by Japan with 19 projects worth $9 million.

Additional capital in the period was $87.1 million for 37 operational projects, including $35.5 million from Korean investors.

Vietnam posted economic growth of 3.32% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to a year earlier, the country's General Statistics Office announced Wednesday.