Nguyễn Thị Lệ, chairwoman of city People’s Council, speaks at the fourth session of the 10th People’s Council meeting on Tuesday (Dec 7). Photo courtesy of the HCM City Press Centre

HCM CITY — While HCM City is not expected to meet its economic growth target of 6 per cent for 2021 due to the impact of the fourth COVID wave, its budget revenue has exceeded the year’s target.

Speaking at the fourth session of the 10th HCM City People’s Council conference, Nguyễn Thị Lệ, chairwoman of the People’s Committee, said prolonged restriction measures had seriously affected HCM City’s business and production as well as people’s lives. 

The city has seen negative yearly growth (minus 6.78 per cent) for the year.

“The Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) is expected to drop by 5.06 per cent this year,” she said.

After nearly two months of implementation of a government resolution on how to adapt to the pandemic, HCM City has controlled the spread of the coronavirus to a large extent and has started reopening its economy.

The city has achieved significant growth over the past five years. GRDP increased by an average of 6.41 per cent in the 2016-20 period, contributing more than 22.2 per cent of the country’s economy, according to Lệ.

Budget revenue

Speaking at the event, Lê Hòa Bình, vice chairman of the People’s Committee, said the city’s budget revenue is expected to reach more than VNĐ370 trillion (US$15.92 billion), or more than 101 per cent of the year’s target.

The target for the city’s 2021 budget revenue was VNĐ365 trillion as assigned by the central Government, which means it should collect VNĐ1 trillion ($44 million) a day. 

In recent years its budget revenue has accounted for 25 - 27 per cent of the country’s total budget revenue, according to Bình.

The city lured more than $5.8 billion worth of foreign direct investment (FDI) so far this year. The amount of remittances to the city was estimated at $6.6 billion, up nearly 9 per cent over the same period last year, according to Bình.

The city has estimated its budget revenue to be more than VNĐ386 trillion ($16.66 billion) in 2022, an increase of 5.9 per cent compared to the estimate in 2021. 

Recovery plan

Nguyễn Văn Nên, secretary of the city Party Committee, said the city would continue to support businesses and enforce pandemic prevention and control measures as part of its economic recovery plan for 2022.

The main tasks for 2022 should be to “adapt safely, and flexibly and effectively control the pandemic; improve the quality of urban government; support businesses; and improve the business climate,” Nên said.

The year-end meeting will review the socio-economic situation in 2021 and its economic recovery plan for 2022 and over the next five years.

It will discuss matters related to budget revenue, urban planning, support for preschool children, and public and non-public high schools.

It will also discuss support for the elderly who live alone and orphaned children due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and policies on improving the capacity of grassroots healthcare.         

The municipal People’s Committee will report on the urban administration government model and investment environment in 2021.

The event will also include a Q and A session on the effectiveness of state management in urban planning.

The city in early October lifted most of its lockdown measures. It has allowed many businesses to operate but with a limited number of people.

The meeting will run until December 9. — VNS