Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at a recent meeting with HCM City's leaders. (Photo: VNA)HCMCity (VNS/VNA) - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has supported Ho Chi MinhCity’s proposal to retain 23 percent of its budget revenues, up from theprevious 18 percent, to create conditions for sustainable development.
HCMCity is the country’s economic powerhouse with a significant GDPcontribution to the national budget, the PM said at a recent working sessionwith municipal leaders.
ProfessorTran Hoang Ngan, Director of the HCM City Development Research Institute, saidthe decision would help resolve a number of challenges related to roadinfrastructure, social security, healthcare, and other issues.
“Ifthe city received a 1 percent increase in retained revenue, it wouldthen have an additional 2 trillion VND (86.748 million USD), and anincrease of 5 percent would yield an additional 10 trillion VND.”
Dr.Huynh The Du, public policy lecturer at Fulbright University, said the cityneeds to be highly competitive to attract large businesses, a highly skilledworkforce, and well-off people compared to other cities in the region and inthe world.
China,for example, has spent a lot of resources on big cities, he added.
Atthe working session, Nguyen Thanh Phong, Chairman of the municipal People’sCommittee, proposed that the government approve the budget retention rate of23 percent instead of the current 18 percent over the next five years.
“HCMCity has one of the lowest budget retention rate of all cities in theworld, and this should change,” Phong said. The city contributes 27 percent tothe national budget, and has the lowest retention rate in thecountry.
Inthe first four months, the city posted a budget collection of 140 trillion VND(6 billion USD), up 15.7 percent year-on-year, Phong said.
Thelow budget retention rate has prevented the financial hub of HCM Cityfrom addressing traffic jams and school shortages.
Withonly 9 percent of Vietnam’s total population, the city contributes 24 percentof the country’s GDP.
Expertssaid the city does not have enough money to build more roads as thepercentage of retained budget revenue is too low.
Thecity also needs 10,000 additional classrooms every half decade to keep pacewith the population increase, with each classroom hosting a standard 30students. It currently has to pack 40-60 students into a single room, theysaid.
Budgetretention ratios for four other centrally-run cities - Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nangand Can Tho for the 2016-2020 period are 35, 78, 68, and 91 percent, respectively,far above HCM City.
Accordingto the Department of Planning and Investment, the city’s total retail sales ofgoods and revenue from consumer services in the first four monthswas up 7.9 percent year-on-year.
Thecity’s Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) reached 329.6 trillion VND in thefirst quarter, up 4.58 percent year-on-year./.
HCMCity is the country’s economic powerhouse with a significant GDPcontribution to the national budget, the PM said at a recent working sessionwith municipal leaders.
ProfessorTran Hoang Ngan, Director of the HCM City Development Research Institute, saidthe decision would help resolve a number of challenges related to roadinfrastructure, social security, healthcare, and other issues.
“Ifthe city received a 1 percent increase in retained revenue, it wouldthen have an additional 2 trillion VND (86.748 million USD), and anincrease of 5 percent would yield an additional 10 trillion VND.”
Dr.Huynh The Du, public policy lecturer at Fulbright University, said the cityneeds to be highly competitive to attract large businesses, a highly skilledworkforce, and well-off people compared to other cities in the region and inthe world.
China,for example, has spent a lot of resources on big cities, he added.
Atthe working session, Nguyen Thanh Phong, Chairman of the municipal People’sCommittee, proposed that the government approve the budget retention rate of23 percent instead of the current 18 percent over the next five years.
“HCMCity has one of the lowest budget retention rate of all cities in theworld, and this should change,” Phong said. The city contributes 27 percent tothe national budget, and has the lowest retention rate in thecountry.
Inthe first four months, the city posted a budget collection of 140 trillion VND(6 billion USD), up 15.7 percent year-on-year, Phong said.
Thelow budget retention rate has prevented the financial hub of HCM Cityfrom addressing traffic jams and school shortages.
Withonly 9 percent of Vietnam’s total population, the city contributes 24 percentof the country’s GDP.
Expertssaid the city does not have enough money to build more roads as thepercentage of retained budget revenue is too low.
Thecity also needs 10,000 additional classrooms every half decade to keep pacewith the population increase, with each classroom hosting a standard 30students. It currently has to pack 40-60 students into a single room, theysaid.
Budgetretention ratios for four other centrally-run cities - Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nangand Can Tho for the 2016-2020 period are 35, 78, 68, and 91 percent, respectively,far above HCM City.
Accordingto the Department of Planning and Investment, the city’s total retail sales ofgoods and revenue from consumer services in the first four monthswas up 7.9 percent year-on-year.
Thecity’s Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) reached 329.6 trillion VND in thefirst quarter, up 4.58 percent year-on-year./.
VNA
