A corner of HCM City (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City has basicallyfulfilled socio-economic targets for the first three quarters of 2018 butefforts must be kept up if the city wants to meet the yearly goals.
According to Director of the city’s Department of Planningand Investment Su Ngoc Anh, the nine-month GDP totalled 903.6 trillion VND, a7.8 percent growth from the same period last year, while budget collectionreached 269.1 trillion VND, up 9.8 percent.
Total retail and service revenues in the period stood at769.3 trillion VND, an increase of 12.8 percent. Export earnings were 28.2billion USD, up 7.7 percent while spending on imports were 34.8 billion USD, up10.5 percent.
The city attracted 5.47 billion USD in foreign investment,and welcomed 5.45 million foreign visitors in the nine months.
In the remaining time of the year, the municipal People’sCommittee has instructed the trade and investment promotion centre to continuesupporting local businesses in expanding both domestic and export markets. Thecentre is also asked to intensify promotional efforts to attract investment inprojects within the city’s seven breakthrough programmes, four key industriesand nine priority services.
Amidst concerns about the impacts of the US-China trade war,local economists said the city should keep close watch of the situation inorder to take timely responding measures.
Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen ThanhPhong said the city will provide support in the form of policies on land,science-technology, credit access and administrative procedures for localbusinesses with a view to promoting the private sector to become an importantdriving force for the city’s economy.-VNA
