In an interview with Saigon Giai Phong Newspaper, Nguyen Nam Hai, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, emphasized that exports from Ho Chi Minh City are vital for Vietnam as they comprise of one third of the country's total exports.
Though this ratio tends to fluctuate, he hoped that with government help, HCMC will overcome temporary obstacles to emerge once again as the country’s very important export hub.
With a favorable geographical location, high-quality human resources, and as a science and technology center, the country's financial and commercial port can continue to be the country's largest exporter and contribute the maximum to its revenue.
Deputy Minister Hai added that according to figures released by the General Statistics Office of Vietnam relating to Vietnam’s macroeconomic situation, there was a steep drop in state budget revenues and expenditure.
Accordingly, the total state budget revenues were estimated at VND468.6 trillion, meeting about 63.3 percent of the whole year’s estimate. This was mostly caused by decrease in domestic tax from export-import activities.
The total actualized social investment capital in the first nine months of this year was estimated at VND708.6 trillion, rising 8.6 percent year on year, and equaling 35.8 percent of GDP.
Dep. Minister Hai stressed that currently the development of ‘support industries’ is one of the four areas that benefits Government, enjoying loans at low interest rates of 13 percent.
GSO statistics show that from January-September, investment capital from non-state sector hit VND275 trillion, rising 11.8 percent year on year. With the new figures, investment capital from non-state sector exceeded the capital from the state sector to account for the biggest proportion at 38.8 percent of the total investment capital.
The investment capital from foreign-invested sectors accounted for the lowest proportion and posted the slowest growth with VND170 trillion, accounting for 24 percent and marking a 1.6 percent year-on-year growth, Hai said.
Meanwhile, the investment capital from state sector was estimated at VND263.6 trillion, accounting for 37.2 percent of the total and increased 10.4 percent year on year.
In this background, HCMC needs to restructure exports in the direction of industrialization and modernization, focusing on improving the percentage of export value added products, processed products, high-tech products, environmentally friendly products, etc.
Mr. Hai pointed out that HCMC should take advantage of the preferential policies of the State; review and apply additional policies to encourage development and attract investment in ‘support industries’ in order to meet domestic demand and to participate in the global market with goods and services such as mechanical engineering, electronics and information technology, automotive production and assembly, textiles, footwear, etc.
At the same time, businesses in HCMC need to be more proactive in investments and improve quality of human resources to support industrial development due to the nature of the industry that requires high-quality labor.
The dep. minister concluded that HCMC needs to restructure its export industry to maintain a sustainable and higher growth level and reach a level of greater competitiveness in products.
