HCMC – HCMC’s economy expanded by 6.54% in the first quarter of this year, above the 5.5% estimate, said a HCMC Statistics Office report.
Speaking at the 28th conference held by the HCMC Party Committee today morning, March 27, Nguyen Van Nen, member of the Politburo and secretary of the HCMC Party Committee, said key industries had shown signs of recovery, including tourism and real estate.
“Confidence in the business community has improved,” he told the conference, which looked into the city’s socio-economic performance in January-March, personnel work, and preparations for the forthcoming 12th congress of the HCMC Party Committee.
Despite global uncertainties, the Party Committee of HCMC set an economic growth target of 7.5% to 8% this year, he said.
However, he pointed out a couple of issues that need to be solved, such as weak capital absorption capacity, lower-than-expected capital disbursements and slow administrative reform.
The city’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth rate in the first quarter grew by 6.54%, ranking second among the five centrally-governed cities, surpassing Hanoi, Danang and Can Tho.
Nguyen Khac Hoang, director of the Statistics Office of HCMC said the higher-than-expected growth rate in the first quarter would give much-needed impetus to economic development in the rest of the year.
But the city’s economy will have to get prepared for some headwinds in the last three quarters, he noted.
