Ho Chi Minh City is welcoming the Spring of 2009 (the Year of the Buffalo) with great pride as it has overcome many challenges to secure the country’s highest GDP per capita.

In 2008, HCM City scored two significant achievements in socio-economic development. The city continued to maintain its GDP growth rate at 11 percent, or 1.6 times higher than the whole country’s total figure, and saw an increase of 24.3 percent in export turnover. Its direct foreign investment (FDI) reached US$8.38 billion, more than four times higher than the previous year, and even higher than the figure recorded in the five years from 2003 to 2007. The southern economic hub attracted VND114,500 billion for social development investment, up 20.4 percent compared to 2007, and contributed VND110,398 billion to the State budget, surpassing the yearly plan by 13.3 percent.

With these positive results, HCM City contributed remarkably to the country’s common development, making up 21 percent of GDP, 30 percent of industrial production value, 29 percent of retail sales and services, 40 percent of export turnover, and 33 percent of the State budget. In particular, its GDP per capita tripled the country’s average figure.

In addition, the city also took an active role in implementing policies on social welfare and poverty reduction, thus improving local people’s living standards. It provided loans worth a total of more than VND206 billion to over 42,000 poor households to help them boost economic development. As a result, its poverty rate dropped to less than 0.6 percent, successfully completing its set target of helping poor people earn a minimum income of VND6 million/person/year. The city also paid due attention to taking care of social policy beneficiaries, senior citizens and poor people. At present, more than 6,200 underprivileged people are living at HCM City’s social support centres.

In 2009, HCM City aims to keep the consumer price index (CPI) at below 15 percent, create jobs for an additional 270,000 workers and reduce the poverty rate to 13.8 percent following its new poverty line (at less VND12 million/person/year). About 91.5 percent of people in the city will have access to clean water.

According to the Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee, Le Thanh Hai, the city will have to face a number of challenges in 2009 due to its weak competitiveness in the international economic integration process. Moreover, industrial sectors with high value added content have yet to fully tap the city’s potential for development. The city’s Infrastructure has revealed certain shortcomings, leading to traffic congestion, flooding and environmental pollution.

Furthermore, he said, the city’s human resources have not kept up with the shifting economy and urban development and management is weak. Administrative procedures are still tangled in red tape and there have been corruption cases among a number of officials.

The Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee, Le Hoang Quan, said that the city will give top priority to using social investment sources in an effective manner, attracting more foreign investment, encouraging the participation of the private sector in socio-economic development and boosting investment disbursement, as well as providing more funds for key projects to be put in use in the 2009-2010 period. Municipal authorities will intensify oversight of how investment projects are chosen and implemented, prevent wastefulness and employ stringent measures to deal with outstanding debts in capital construction work. The city will focus on simplifying administrative procedures and encouraging the private sector to invest in the areas of health care, education and the social welfare system in order to improve people’s material and spiritual life, he added.

Mr Quan also revealed that HCM City will carry out a poverty reduction programme in the 2009-2015 period, with the aim of raising poor people’s income to VND12 million/person/year and gradually reaching the world’s poverty line.

At a recent meeting with the city’s leaders, Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh said that HCM City is Vietnam’s largest city and is a big economic, cultural and technological centre. Every success and achievement of the city will actively contribute to the country’s common development. Therefore, HCM City should lead the country in economic development and fulfill its set targets ahead of schedule to become an economic spearhead. The city should push up the restructuring of industrial sectors which employ a large number of skilled workers and use high technology to produce high value-added content, he said.

The Party leader’s request also contained his belief in HCM City’s future success and provided fresh impetus for the city, which bears the name of Uncle Ho, to further develop in the new Spring. (VOV)