Panelists discuss ways to support HCM City’s double-digit growth target at the HUBA Entrepreneur Coffee programme on August 8. — Photo courtesy of HUBA

HCM CITY — Achieving double-digit growth will require HCM City not only to mobilise more investment capital, but also to raise productivity, diversify funding channels and create mechanisms for businesses to collaborate on solving the city’s major challenges, speakers said at an event in HCM City on August 8.

The HCM City Union of Business Associations (HUBA) held its HUBA Entrepreneur Coffee programme under the theme “Businesses joining forces for double-digit growth”, bringing together business leaders, financial institutions and economic experts to discuss ways to strengthen growth momentum.

According to Dr. Cấn Văn Lực, a member of the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council, HCM City’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) grew by around 8.55 per cent in the first half of 2026, providing a positive foundation. However, achieving double-digit growth for the full year will require a stronger acceleration.

He said growth momentum would depend on simultaneous improvements in five key pillars: science, technology and innovation; human resources; infrastructure; the mobilisation and allocation of financial resources; and institutional quality and execution efficiency.

Among these, investment remains the most important growth driver, Lực said, adding that the city’s total social investment capital needs to increase by at least 13-15 per cent to create additional room for growth.

However, the growth challenge lies not only in securing more capital, but also in using it efficiently. Businesses need to shift from expanding their scale to increasing value added. This requires greater investment in technology, data, artificial intelligence (AI), research and development, deep processing and new products, while proactively leveraging HCM City’s new policy mechanisms to expand their growth potential, he said.

Dr. Trần Du Lịch said that as demand for capital to upgrade technology and expand production increases, relying solely on bank credit is no longer sufficient. The economy’s financial structure needs to be rebalanced by developing the capital market to share the role of providing medium- and long-term funding with the banking system.

Từ Tiến Phát, General Director of ACB, said businesses now have various capital-raising options, including corporate bonds, investment funds and international loans. However, these sources are increasingly accessible only to businesses meeting higher standards of corporate governance, financial transparency and risk management.

Nguyễn Ngọc Hòa, chairman of HCM City Union of Business Associations, speaks at the HUBA Entrepreneur Coffee programme in HCM City on August 8. — Photo courtesy of HUBA

Nguyễn Ngọc Hòa, chairman of HUBA, echoed the view, stressing that businesses seeking quality funding must strengthen their “capital absorption capacity” by standardising governance, improving financial reporting transparency, accelerating digital and green transformation, and adopting environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices.

Once businesses have sufficient capacity, capital from banks, investment funds and international financial institutions can be channelled more effectively into production, technological innovation and productivity improvements, he said.

Experts agreed that HCM City would struggle to achieve double-digit growth if businesses continued to develop in isolation. The city needs a mechanism that enables businesses, financial institutions and authorities to work together to identify challenges, implement solutions and share the benefits.

When resources are better connected, corporate capabilities are strengthened and new mechanisms are implemented in a coordinated manner, double-digit growth will not merely be an administrative target, but the outcome of a thriving and collaborative business ecosystem. — VNS