Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong has asked agencies to improve production of major industries and diversify tourism products, as well as speed up the capital disbursement rate of public investment projects in the city.

The skyline of HCM City at night (Photo: VNA)

Speaking at a conference on February 18, Phong said the city has asked its Department of Industry and Trade to propose measures to improve production of four major industries in the first quarter.

The request came as the four industries, which include mechanical engineering, electronics, chemicals-rubber-plastic, and food processing, saw a production decrease of 2.71 percent in January over the same period last year.

In addition, the city’s industrial production index (IPI) in January 2020 decreased by 3.9 percent compared to the same period last year.

Phong also urged agencies to complete a logistics development project that would make the city a major logistics hub by 2025.

The project will build three logistic centres through technical infrastructure, and would aim to increase the number of businesses hiring specialised logistic services, with the goal of reducing costs, Phong said.

To cope with the outbreak of the acute respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Phong asked the Department of Tourism to provide advice on a planned request to the Prime Minister to reduce taxes on the tourism industry, especially on small business households in the city.

This week the city will hold a conference to remove difficulties for businesses and accelerate the progress of some real estate projects, Phong said, adding the city has received a number of real estate requests about legal procedures from businesses.

In addition, Phong said the city receives over 5 billion USD of remittances annually, of which 7.2 percent is for production investment.

This is a great resource, and the city will develop effective schemes to maximise remittances, he said.

Le Thi Huynh Mai, Director of the city’s Department of Planning and Investment, said the city’s total retail sales of goods and service revenue reached 113 trillion VND (4.86 billion USD) in January, up 3.6 percent compared to December and up 11.2 percent over the same period last year.

HCM City was estimated to earn 3.9 billion USD worth of exports in the first month of the year, up 10.2 percent over the same period last year, according to the city’s Department of Planning and Investment.

The city welcomed 840,000 international visitors in January, an increase of 5.9 percent over the same period last year, bringing in tourism revenue of more than 13 trillion VND (559.72 million USD).

The city collected nearly 43 trillion VND worth of budget revenue in January, equal to 96.07 percent of the same period last year.

Nearly 2,800 domestic enterprises in the city were established in January with a total registered capital of more than 33.5 trillion VND, mostly in real estate, building, wholesale and retail, and processing and manufacturing industries.