Sharpest growth fall

Covid-19 has dealt a hard blow to HCMC’s economy, sending the city’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in 2021 down 6.78% year-on-year, the sharpest fall ever.

According to the HCMC Statistics Department’s report on the city’s socioeconomic performance in 2021, the city’s GRDP in 2021 was some VND1.3 quadrillion. The contraction of 6.78% was much lower than the 1.39% growth last year. All the three main components of the economy reported a fall. Specifically, the agro-forestry-fishery sector dropped 13.68%; the industry-construction sector, 12.96%; and the service sector, 5.5%.

In addition, the index of industrial production fell 14.3%, while the retail sales of consumer goods and services plunged 21.9%, and the total investment declined 22%. The HCMC Statistics Department attributed these poor results to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic since mid-2020, leading to the shortage of laborers, the input cost increase and changes in consumption habits.

Despite multiple difficulties, the city’s economy still had bright spots after deploying the Government’s Resolution 128 on safely and flexibly adapting to and effectively controlling Covid-19 for two months.

Specifically, the budget revenue edged up 3% against last year to reach VND383.7 trillion, exceeding the target by 5.2%. The rise in the budget revenue was attributed to the good performance of real estate, finance and banking and securities enterprises and the effectiveness of policies to extend enterprises’ deadlines to pay taxes.

Meanwhile, the number of foreign direct investment projects fell but the total capital increased over 2020.

The city’s consumer price index in 2021 increased 2.36% over the previous year.