The 7th conference of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee for the 2025-2030 term officially opened on July 6. Presenting an analysis of the city's socio-economic performance in the first six months of the year and growth solutions for the remaining six months, Truong Minh Huy Vu, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies, said the city's economy expanded by 8.55 percent during the first half of the year.
This marks the city's strongest first-half growth in the past five years and even the highest level recorded over the past decade. To achieve double-digit growth for the full year, the city will need growth of more than 11 percent in the third quarter and approximately 12 percent or higher in the fourth quarter.
According to Dr. Truong Minh Huy Vu, practical experience shows that the city will need additional growth drivers to achieve its growth target.
Following directives from the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, municipal departments and agencies have been accelerating the circulation of capital, with a focus on several key areas, including the turnover of public investment capital (currently at 35 percent, roughly in line with the national average, with a target of achieving 100 percent disbursement this year); the turnover of private investment capital; foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows; and other indirect capital and financial flows.
Another issue highlighted by the director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies is rising consumer prices. He forecast that inflationary pressures are unlikely to ease in the third and fourth quarters for a variety of reasons, including continued increases in the global prices of key input materials such as steel and petroleum.
Against the backdrop of pursuing high economic growth while safeguarding social welfare, Ho Chi Minh City needs to continue implementing its price stabilization program, he said.
In particular, subsidizing public bus services is an effective way to stabilize prices while enhancing social welfare for the majority of residents. In addition, the city should continue pursuing policies on healthcare, education, and housing, especially affordable rental accommodation and boarding houses. These remain important policy levers to help workers, school teachers, university lecturers, and other middle-income earners continue living and working in the city.
In addition, the city should continue strengthening its price stabilization program for food, essential consumer goods, and daily necessities, building on the effective experience gained in recent years. This will be a key priority in the second half of the year to achieve double-digit economic growth while ensuring social welfare and maintaining public security and order across the city.
Speaking further at the conference, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc said the city will soon launch a 150-day emulation campaign aimed at mobilizing private and public investment resources, with public investment serving as the leading force to stimulate overall investment and economic growth.
Efforts must be made to achieve 100 percent of the public investment targets. Private investment must succeed in mobilizing the determined amount to achieve 10 percent growth, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc stressed.
The city has already assigned a list of around 20 major enterprises that have ongoing investment projects, have broken ground, or are preparing to commence construction to chairpersons and vice chairpersons of the People's Committee, as well as directors of municipal departments and agencies, for close monitoring, coordination, and support on a project-by-project and investor-by-investor basis.
He also urged commune- and ward-level authorities to closely monitor private investment activities, particularly through housing construction and residential development projects within their localities.
