HCMC – Though the fourth wave of the Covid pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the socioeconomic growth of HCMC, the city’s 2021 budget revenue edged up 2.73% year-on-year at VND381.5 trillion, exceeding the target by 4.56%.
Of the total, the revenue from domestic production and business activities was over VND263.8 trillion, inching down 0.58% year-on-year and surpassing the target by 2.7%, while import-export activities contributed a revenue of VND117.6 trillion, exceeding the target by 8.9%.
The rise in the budget rrevenue was a spectacular result, while HCMC’s gross regional domestic product in 2021 dipped by 6.78% year-on-year, the sharpest drop ever.
Pham Thi Hong Ha, director of the HCMC Department of Finance, said that due to the impact of Covid, mainly the fourth wave of the pandemic, the city had to tighten anti-Covid measures and impose social distancing to prevent the spread of the pandemic, thereby disrupting production and supply chains. As a result, the city’s budget revenue took a nosedive early on.
Besides, to help recover the economy and address financial difficulties facing firms and residents, the Government launched numerous support policies, including cutting corporate income taxes by 30%, lowering value-added taxes and extending tax payment deadlines. As such, the city’s budget revenue started to drop from May, 2021.
The city’s budget revenue reported a sharpest fall in August and September last year. Notably, in September, the budget revenue reached a mere 55.8% of the average monthly figure.
After the city resumed business and production activities in October last year and deployed the Government’s Resolution 128 on safely and flexibly adapting to and effectively controlling Covid-19, the city’s budget revenue gradually bounced back, Ha said.
The Government has set a budget revenue target in 2022 at some VND386.6 trillion for HCMC, up 5.9% against the 2021 target, with the revenue from domestic production and business activities targeted at VND270 trillion and that from import-export activities at VND116.5 trillion.
HCMC has the largest economic scale in Vietnam, accounting for 23%-24% of the country’s total gross domestic product (GDP), the local media reported.
The city’s targeted budget revenue is expected to make up 24.8% of the country’s total budget revenue in 2022.
