HO CHI MINH CITY: Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City is estimated to have gained a GDP growth of 8.55 percent in the first half of this year, the highest rate in three straight years, the municipal Department of Planning and Investment announced Wednesday.
The city is estimated to post GDP of 417,064 billion Vietnamese dong (19.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-June period. Of the GDP, 59.9 percent comes from services, 39.2 percent from industry and construction sectors, and 0.9 percent from agriculture sector.
The city’s total goods retail sales and service revenues in the 6-month period are estimated at 323,232 billion Vietnamese dong ( nearly 14.9 billion U.S. dollars), up 10.9 percent on-year.
Ho Chi Minh City has so far this year attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) of 1.2 billion U.S. dollars, up 12.2 percent on- year, said the department. Specifically, since the beginning of this year, the city has licensed 258 FDI projects with total registered capital of 798.4 million U.S. dollars, and seen 84 operational FDI projects raise their capital by 409.9 million U.S. dollars.
The city’s total export turnovers are estimated at nearly 14.6 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of this year, down 6.3 percent, mainly due to a sharp decline in crude oil prices. The city has so far this year received overseas remittances of nearly 2.2 billion U.S. dollars.
Nearly 14,100 enterprises, excluding FDI firms, have been established since the beginning of this year, with total registered capital of over 95,200 Vietnamese dong (nearly 4.4 billion U.S. dollars), posting respective year-on-year rises of nearly 26 percent and over 60 percent, said the municipal Statistics Office. Meanwhile, over 5,500 enterprises have stopped operations, down 32 percent on-year.
