HCMC proactively creates foundations for sustainable recovery, development

The V-shaped economic recovery

In 2022, HCMC identifies the theme of the year as the year of safe adaptation, flexible and effective control of the Covid-19 pandemic, continuing to improve the quality of urban administration, improving the investment environment, and accompanying businesses.

With this theme, the city determines that effective control of the Covid-19 pandemic is a prerequisite for socio-economic recovery and development. At the same time, it will continue to promote the results of the implementation of the 2021 theme by improving the quality of urban administration, continuing to improve the investment environment to open and promote social resources to develop the city. This year, HCMC has set 19 targets in which the growth rate of the city's gross regional domestic product (GRDP) will reach 6-6.5 percent; new jobs will be created for 140,000 laborers.

Bringing the growth rate from negative 6.78 percent in 2021 to 6-6.5 percent in 2022 within just one year is an extremely difficult task. In 2021, we went through the harshest days of the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic with unprecedented destruction. For the first time, economic growth was negative 6.78 percent, an exceptional decline in the past 35 years in the city.

However, in the toughest days of the pandemic, it is meaningful that the city has still retained valuable foundations and precious bright spots. Some industries and fields have still maintained a good growth rate; export turnover is estimated to increase by 2.8 percent over the same period. Foreign direct investment is estimated to increase by 11-15 percent, reaching about US$5.8 billion-US$6 billion. Total state budget revenue in 2021 is estimated at VND381.53 trillion, reaching 104.56 percent of the yearly estimate. HCMC also has more resources from the sharing of the Central Government when approving the rate of budget allocation for the city in 2022 at 21 percent, up 3 percent compared to the rate of the previous five years.

Most importantly, the belief, creativity, and desire to rise in each officer, citizen, and business have not been lost, but have been forged even more strongly through the Covid-19 crisis. During the pandemic, the city has made great progress and development in the application of information technology in pandemic prevention and the handling of online applications. Many enterprises have applied the digital economy and developed e-commerce. Many citizens have set new attitudes and new habits to adapt to Covid-19, knowing how to apply technology more quickly to serve life, work, paperwork, and online procedures. Especially, the more the essence of HCMC people shines, the more love in each person is expanded when we have experienced and understood the pain of our compatriots. Through the Covid-19 storm, the national unity bloc has been tightened. The interaction between the Party Committee, the government, and the people has been strengthened. They are great tangible and intangible values, which are the solid foundation for the recovery and development of the city.

If there is a favorable business environment combined with the timely and effective support of the Central Government, with such inner strength of HCMC, it is possible for the city to make a V-shaped economic recovery. It is also a political determination to help HCMC maintain its position and role as the locomotive of economic growth in the Southern region and the whole country.

Unleashing resources, innovating management

Amid the complicated situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, three major issues have emerged that HCMC needs to pay special attention to. They are city governance in the new situation, the building of a database system and data communication in the operation of the city administration, and innovating management and finding new drivers for future growth. Therefore, the journey of socio-economic recovery and development needs a system of synchronous and feasible solutions with a long-term vision.

In 2021, three pillars, including controlling the pandemic, recovering the economy, and ensuring social security, were carried out simultaneously and harmoniously. The tasks in 2022 are also included in the overall HCMC Socio-Economic Development and Recovery Program for the 2022-2025 period, designed with urgent and focused solutions to restore disruptions and recover the economy. The determination and aspiration to realize economic recovery and development is reflected in the fact that despite facing many difficulties, HCMC still has not adjusted the socio-economic development goals and targets set in the Resolution of the 11th Party Congress of HCMC.

At present, the Covid-19 pandemic remains complicated, with the appearance of the new variant Omicron. The uncertainty and unpredictability of the pandemic require us to be prepared to adapt and avoid the two extremes - neither negligently subjective nor panic-stricken. Everyone needs to proactively comply with pandemic prevention regulations to protect themselves and their relatives and contribute to protecting the community. To protect people's health and lives, HCMC will continue to focus on controlling the pandemic through effectively operating the pandemic monitoring and warning system and strengthening the health system, especially grassroots and preventive healthcare. The city will also continue to increase vaccination coverage and carry out a campaign to protect at-risk people.

In improving the quality of urban administration, HCMC will continue to implement specific mechanisms and policies to develop the city; complete the project on decentralization and authorization for Thu Duc City and the project on specific mechanisms and policies for Thu Duc City. In 2022, when summarizing Resolution No.54 of the National Assembly, the city's leaders will analyze and listen carefully to the successful and many unsatisfactory aspects, which even left doubts and unresolved knots in the mood and policies for officials, civil servants, and public servants in Thu Duc City in the process of rearranging the organizational apparatus and personnel work. From this conclusion, the city will choose solutions and take careful steps when implementing the project of transforming some districts into cities of HCMC in the 2021-2030 period. To achieve socio-economic recovery and development, HCMC must open up and converge development resources. In 2022, the city will promote public investment, especially key projects that create spillovers and attract social investment, at the same time, improve the investment environment, remove obstacles in private investment projects, and mobilize social resources for economic recovery. After nearly two years of coping with the pandemic at different levels, people and businesses have faced many difficulties. The city government understands that, at this time, enterprises urgently need practical and appropriate support, and more importantly, an open policy that creates motivation, promotes recovery and substantive development for city-based businesses. Therefore, the city will continue adopting synchronous solutions to support credit, reorganize production and business activities, enter and expand the market, restructure enterprises, and support digital transformation. At the same time, the city will regularly exchange and receive opinions from associations, businesses, and investors to promptly remove difficulties and create conditions to quickly stabilize production and business activities.People for people For a dynamic economic center like HCMC, the determination to clear the bottlenecks in administrative procedures that cause difficulties for businesses and people and hinder the natural recovery of the market is the practical solution to help unlock resources from within the community, promoting development. The HCMC government, departments, agencies, Thu Duc City, and districts will promote a leaping development in terms of consciousness and attitudes in the way of interaction and performance of their responsibilities and duties. In 2022, there must be a real transformation in public service, shifting from an administration that focuses on management goals to a service administration in which public administration service provision is the responsibility of the administrative apparatus of all levels. The government will also compete with the business community. In which, the government strives to create solutions, keep a progressive attitude, listen, take timely actions to remove difficulties and problems and provide better service. The city wants the business community to emulate the city government to carry on the strong spirit of creativity, restructuring, and digital transformation. All officials and civil servants in HCMC will work with all honor, with the spirit of taking the people and businesses as the center to best serve and support within the framework of the law so that the government, businesses, and citizens together overcome difficulties, realizing the goal of developing a more decent city, contributing to building a kinder and better life. One of the key points of HCMC's economic recovery is taking care of people's lives. All developments in megacities, like HCMC, are aimed at the ultimate goal of improving people's quality of life. The city also clearly identifies the human factor and human resources as the main driving force for the economy's resilience in 2022 and has a clear roadmap to attract workers back, ensuring their lives, health, safety, and accommodation. In which, the city focuses on effectively promoting all resources to develop a synchronous urban infrastructure system to serve people's life, developing housing, building low-cost housing for low-income people, replacing houses along canals, and renovating old apartment buildings. HCMC will continue to carry out multidimensional poverty reduction, strengthen the social security to support vulnerable people in the face of changes if any, take care of old and childless people and orphaned children because of the Covid-19 pandemic, take care of people's mental health after the pandemic, and take care of the 2022 Lunar New Year. Along with that, the city will strengthen internal resources, bringing into play the strength of the community, in combination with the resources supported by the State to increase the capacity to cope with uncertain events. For the city, the problem of high growth is very difficult, and the best solution lies in the human factor. The breakthrough lies in the creativity and tectonic ability of each official, civil servant, public servant, and laborer, along with all citizens and entrepreneurs of HCMC. With the inherent dynamic and creative tradition of the city, a business force accounting for nearly 40 percent of the country, and the existing economic infrastructure of a major economic center, if it continues to receive the consensus of people and the best efforts of the whole political system, the socio-economic situation of HCMC will surely recover and develop with a new position.