HCMC eyes 6.5 pct growth in 2022

By Huu Cong December 3, 2021 | 04:38 am PT

Workers at a garment factory in Tan Binh District, HCMC, October 21, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

Pandemic impacts are set to contract HCMC’s economy this year, but the city remains confident of a 6-6.5 percent GRDP growth in 2022, a senior party official says.

Nguyen Van Nen, Secretary of HCMC Party Committee, said at a Thursday conference that the city's growth for 2021 is estimated at a negative 6.78 percent, versus the target of 6 percent.

It would be the first ever negative growth for the city since Vietnam adopted the Doi Moi (renovation) reforms in 1986.

Nen noted that the GRDP growth was 4.58 percent in the first quarter of this year, but the pandemic seriously hurt the economy in subsequent quarters.

In the third quarter, when the city adopted strict social distancing, its GRDP dropped more than 24 percent compared to the same period last year.

But there have been positive signs.

The city's budget collection and expenditure for the first 11 months of the year was estimated at VND362 trillion ($15.6 billion), reaching 99.2 percent of the plan.

As of November 1, credit institutions in HCMC had mobilized deposits of VND3.03 trillion, up 10.4 percent year-on-year.

More than 300,400 people have found jobs this year, which marked 101.1 percent of the annual target.

The city will continue its anti-pandemic strategy of "safely and flexibly" adapting to the disease next year, Nen said.