Accordingly, Deputy Director Le Huynh Minh insisted the key mission of HCMC is to maintain a stable supply of commodities and to effectively distribute them to city dwellers via stores and markets from now until the upcoming Tet holiday.
“The HCMC Department of Industry is encouraging businesses participating in the market stabilization scheme to devise suitable measures for inventory purchasing and stocking in compliance with the plan of HCMC People’s Committee, satisfying around 25-43 percent of the market needs”, said the Deputy Director.
His Department will continue to work with different distribution systems in the city for more promotion and discount programs in order to reduce the price increase pressure on end-users. It will also cooperate with the Market Management Authority to closely monitor the market to timely eliminate any goods speculation and hoarding, fake goods or unclear-origin goods circulation.
To support businesses sited in HCMC, the Department is going boost online as well as theme-based, seasonal connection activities between suppliers and buyers, with the focused time from November 16-20, 2022. Other trade promotion activities will also be held in the city, especially the annual event ‘Shopping Season 2022’, themed ‘Busy Spring Shopping’, from November 15 to December 15, 2022.
Senior Lieutenant Colonel Le Manh Ha, Deputy Chief of Staff at the Municipal Department of Public Security reported that in October, HCMC detected 401 crimes against social order, 273 of which were successfully handled (accounting for over 68 percent). 110 cases of economy-related crimes, including smuggling, were discovered, and collected evidence worth more than VND38.2 billion (US$1.54 million). 119 crime cases were prosecuted, and 64 administrative sanctioning decisions were announced, collecting the fines of VND1.17 billion ($47,000).
86 drug-related crimes were detected, and 304 subjects were arrested (a drop of 37 cases compared to the previous month). 72 cases were prosecuted, and 14 cases received administrative punishments.
In the medical field, HCMC is still closely monitoring new variants of Covid-19 while treating patients of this disease, along with the propaganda campaign on the necessity of Covid-19 vaccination. Until now, in the city, more than 23.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been injected.
The quantity of inpatient and outpatient dengue fever cases from the beginning of this year comes to 66,517. In October, 5 deaths were recorded. The cumulative cases of hand-foot-mouth cases reaches 16,143. No death was recorded. From September 16 to October 18, 2 cases of monkeypox were discovered in HCMC, both of whom were well treated and recovered.
At present, the HCMC Health Department is working with the localities to identify the number of children from 6 months old to 5 years old with the need to use Covid-19 vaccine in order to submit to the Health Ministry.
Chief-of-Office Dang Quoc Toan of HCMC People’s Committee summarized the general socio-economic status of the city in October and the first 10 months of 2022. The total budget revenues in HCMC reached VND393 trillion ($15.8 billion), accounting for 101.6 percent of the yearly estimate and increasing by 22.3 percent compared to this time last year. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) of the city also rose by 17.4 percent compared to 2021, which means a strong recovery of all industries in the city.
The total value of retail sales and service provision in HCMC this October reached VND899 trillion ($36.14 billion). The GRDP of the city for the first 9 months of 2022 increased by nearly 10 percent, surpassing the set goal for the year.
However, HCMC is still facing various socio-economic challenges. The financial and currency markets are standing increasing pressure, while the stock, corporate bond, and real estate markets are on the wane, creating several risks and disadvantageous effects.
Notably, the local shortage of fuel has severely affected daily operation of city dwellers and manufacturing activities. meanwhile, the estimated disbursement rate of public investment capital in the first 10 months of 2022 is extremely low, at only 29 percent. The consumer price index (CPI) in 10 months increased by 4.13 percent compared to this time last year, meaning the price index is at a high level, especially in the last 2 months of the year.
