HCMC – From the minus 24.97% and minus 11.64% in the last two quarters of last year, HCMC’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) rose 1.88% in the first quarter of this year, proving that the city has recovered quicker than expected.
At a press briefing on the city’s socioeconomic performance in the first quarter and plans for the second quarter on April 5, director of the municipal Department of Planning and Investment Le Thi Huynh Mai said most enterprises and household businesses had resumed operations while complying with anti-pandemic measures.
In addition, the city’s budget revenue was estimated at over VND121 trillion, up 9.41% year-on-year, while the city’s index of industrial production rose 1.04%.
The city’s export turnover reached US$11.9 billion, increasing 3.5%, and the tourism sector has also been recovering.
Nevertheless, the city failed to meet some targets. Specifically, the consumer price index increased 1.51% year-on-year, while the figure was 0.84% in the same period last year, Mai said.
Meanwhile, the total retail sales of consumer goods and services fell 4.8%, meaning that locals’ consumption has yet to recover.
Moreover, foreign direct investment in the city in the first three months of the year plunged by over 40% against the year-ago period.
Some key sectors of the city have recovered slowly, such as the electronics manufacturing sector, with a decline of 12.92%. The tourism sector’s revenue also dropped 11.8%, Mai informed.
She added that the city still faced many challenges, such as the long-lasting Covid-19 pandemic and the rising prices of some commodities given the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
Furthermore, the high fuel prices have affected supply activities and increased enterprises’ production costs.
The city has been employing multiple synchronous and prompt solutions to control the prices of commodities and stabilize the supply of goods, Mai said.
