Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan speaks at a meeting on November 29 to review socio-economic development achievements and tasks for next year (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNS/VNA) - The private sector will be thedriving force for HCM City’s economic growth, a top municipal official has said.
Speaking at a November 29 meeting to review socio-economicdevelopment and tasks for 2020, Nguyen Thien Nhan, Secretary of the city PartyCommittee, said the private sector had played a crucial role in the city’seconomy and should be given impetus to develop.
“The city shouldnever depend on investment from the State, which plays a leading role inissuing policies and incentives to attract private and foreign investment,” hesaid. “The private sector still faces hurdles, including complicatedadministrative and State management procedures and confusing laws. They needfair opportunities and access to resources for development.”
According to Nhan, in 2005 the State funds in thecity accounted for 32 percent, with the rest being from private and foreignenterprises. The city targets reducing the figure to 16 percent nextyear.
State investment willbe used mostly for development of infrastructure and services, instead of basicproduction and business activities, according to Nhan.
HCM City is home to372,000 private firms, contributing 63 percent of local gross domestic product(GDP) and more than 41 percent of State budget collections, he said.
The city plans tocontinue strengthening state management reform, infrastructure development andpromotion of SMEs and start-ups.
It will also focus onkey economic products, human resources, and cultural programmepromotions.
The city hasidentified 11 projects for private investors, including transportinfrastructure, sewage treatment, water supply, industrial infrastructure, andtrade and services.
The municipal government plays a key role inplanning and issuing policies and incentives for enterprises such as in landallocation, taxation, and marketing support.
The city plans to issue morepolicies on development of IT and science and technology enterprises, whichwill be a driving force for the knowledge-based economy and service andproduction.
In addition, the city authorities seeenterprises’ satisfaction as an important indicator to evaluate the efficiencyof administrative reforms, according to Nhan.
This year HCM City’s economicgrowth is estimated to be 8.32 percent, slightly higher than last year's figureof 8.3 percent.
The city’s economic scaleaccounts for nearly 24 percent of the national economic scale, the highestfigure ever.
Total investment capital inthe city accounted for 35 percent of the city’s Gross Regional Domestic Product(GRDP), exceeding the average target by 30 percent of the GRDP in the 2016-2020period, he said, adding this was a good sign.
Also speaking at the event, Le Thanh Liem, Permanent Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said the total GRDP wasexpected to be 8.3 percent higher than last year. The service sector hadincreased by 8.59 percent.
This year, the city’s budgetrevenue is expected to surpass the year’s target, an increase of 9 percent overlast year, according to Liêm. Total retail sales of goods and servicesincreased by 12.1 percent over the same period.
The total number ofinternational visitors to the city reached 8.5 million, a year-on-year increaseof 14 percent with sales up by 14.5 percent over last year.
In addition, the cityattracted 6.17 billion USD worth of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first ten months ofthis year, an increase of 3.4 percent over the same period last year, accordingto the Department of Planning and Investment./.
VNA
