A view of Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) – Althoughcompleting the majority of its economic targets for 2018, Ho Chi Minh City isstill burdened with heavy pressure from its budget collection, said NguyenThanh Phong, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee at a meeting onNovember 1.
Phong said that if the city fails to recordan economic growth of 8.3 percent for the whole year, it will have to struggleto fulfil its goal of collecting 376.78 trillion VND (16.2 billion USD) towardsits budget by the year’s end.
Director of the city’s Department ofPlanning and Investment Su Ngoc Anh said that in the first 10 months of 2018, thecity’s total retail and services revenue was estimated at 860.35 trillion VND(36.99 billion USD), up 12.9 percent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, total exports of the city hit31.3 billion USD, up 7.1 percent over the same period last year, while itsimports were 38.3 billion USD. Total foreign tourists visiting the city reached6.1 million, a surge of 20.2 percent.
Anh noted that in the first 10 months of2018, HCM City collected over 306.38 trillion VND, equivalent to 81.32 percentof the estimate and representing a rise of 9.89 percent year-on-year.
As many as 35,585 new firms were set up inthe period with a total registered capital of nearly 450 trillion VND, anincrease of 5.2 percent and 95.4 percent, respectively.
Director of the city’s Department ofIndustry and Trade Pham Thanh Kien reported that trade and business in the cityhas remained stable over the given period.
Phong said that for the rest of the year, municipalagencies should keep a close eye on budget expense and collection, avoidinglosses in revenue and tax payments, while also boosting production to completethe target set for budget collection.
He asked the Department of Industry andTrade to promote trade and business to supply goods for the Lunar New Yearholiday, as well as hold a meeting between retailers and production firms tofoster their connections.
The Department of Tourism was requested to diversifyits products and seek measures to optimise waterway tourism.
Phong also stressed the need to revoke landused for wrongful purposes of auctioning, as well as deal with stagnant projectsto create more land stock. –VNA
VNA
