Nguyễn Thị Lệ, chairwoman of the HCM City People’s Council, speaks at the opening of the sixth People’s Council session yesterday. VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — While HCM City is on track to economic recovery, high inflation and elevated global uncertainty could hinder the progress in the second half, said the chairwoman of the People’s Council.

Speaking at the opening of the sixth People’s Council session yesterday, Nguyễn Thị Lệ said the Government’s policies to support businesses affected by the pandemic have been effective, boosting economic recovery and the resumption of all socio-economic activities in the city.

Lệ, however, noted that the city has continued to face obstacles affecting its recovery, such as high inflation caused by the hike in world oil prices, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and the prolonged global supply chain disruption.

It also faces the risk of a COVID-19 resurgence as the highly contagious Omicron strain’s sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 have been detected in Việt Nam. 

It is also confronting other possible outbreaks, such as dengue fever, hand, foot and mouth disease, monkeypox, and an acute hepatitis of unknown cause, she added.

In addition, public investment disbursement remains too slow, causing major public projects to be delayed for years, according to Lệ. 

“Complicated administrative procedures remain the biggest hurdle to capital disbursement, hindering capital flows into production and trade activities.” 

Other long-term issues facing the city include traffic congestion, air pollution, flooding and others.

Tasks and solutions 

Lệ said to speed up recovery, the city should continue to help firms while ensuring safety, cutting production costs, renovating technology, and restoring production post-pandemic.

It is vital to improve administrative reform and the business climate to accelerate public spending. Last year, the city disbursed less than VNĐ30 trillion. It aims to increase the figure to VNĐ43 trillion this year. 

The city will also need to improve its traffic infrastructure, including speeding up the progress of metro routes and investing more in roads connecting ports and the airport. 

In the first half of the year, the city’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) exceeded VNĐ728.7 trillion (US$31.3 billion), a year-on-year rise of 3.82 per cent after drops of 24.97 per cent and 11.64 per cent in the third and fourth quarters of 2021.

Its Index of Industrial Production rose by 3.1 per cent year-on-year, with the four main sectors - food processing, pharmaceuticals-chemicals-rubber-plastic, mechanical engineering, and electronics - expanding by 7.1 per cent.

Retail sales of goods and services surpassed VNĐ556.4 trillion ($23.91 billion), up 6.2 per cent. The city’s exports grew by 13.8 per cent to 24.9 billion and imports were up 13.7 per cent to $34.2 billion.

Revenue from tourism are estimated at VNĐ10.1 trillion ($434.27 million), a year-on-year surge of 233 per cent.

The number of domestic visitors to HCM City increased by 43 per cent to more than 11 million, while 478,000 international visitors came to the city in the first half.

Its revenues were estimated at VNĐ238.6 trillion ($10.25 billion) in the period, or 61.74 per cent of the year’s target and up 17.49 per cent year-on-year. 

Revenue from imports and exports were VNĐ68.7 trillion, or 58.97 per cent of the year’s target and up 9.62 per cent year-on-year.

Hà Nội People’s Council adopts important resolution in 7th session

The 16th-tenure People’s Council of Hà Nội yesterday adopted a resolution on key tasks for socio-economic development and budget collection and spending in the six last months of 2022, as part of its ongoing 7th session.  

The resolution approved a report of the municipal People’s Committee on socio-economic performance and budget collection and spending estimates in the January-June period.

It outlined five groups of tasks and solutions in the latter half of the year, including effective implementing the Government’s COVID-10 prevention and control programme, basically completing COVID-19 vaccination for children from 5-12 before September, accelerating the disbursement of capital for public investment projects, controlling prices and the market, continuing to carry out support measures for production and business activities, and enhancing the effectiveness of State management of planning, land use, construction, urban order, and environmental protection.

According to the report of the municipal People’s Committee, Hà Nội recorded a 7.79 per cent growth in GRDP in the first six months of the year.

The city completed 56.8 per cent of the year’s budget collection target.

Political security and social order and safety in the city have been ensured, with many major events successfully held, especially the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31). — VNS