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| Production of goods for export at Dony Garment Co., Ltd in Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: nhandan.vn) |
Challenges remain
Currently, some export enterprises in the southern city are facing a shortage of orders and have to cut production. For example, Binh Thanh Production, Trading and Import-Export Joint Stock Company in Binh Thanh District, specializing in the production of backpacks and handbags for export to the European market, has experienced a reduction of nearly 40% in orders. Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Mai, a representative from the company, said that the top priority is given to keep orders to maintain production and business.
According to Pham Xuan Hong, Chairman of the HCM City Association of Garments, Textiles, Embroidery and Knitting, by the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, the export market of the embroidery and knitting industry is forcast to face difficulties, in which the United States and Europe, the two largest export markets, will be most affected.
In Thu Duc, the City Labor Confederation recorded that more than 100 small and medium enterprises had a decrease in orders. According to the Export Processing Zone and Industrial Park Authority, 51 enterprises operating in 17 export processing zones and industrial parks reported export orders cut, affecting production and business activities.
Over the past time, foreign investment attraction was not positive. At the meeting on the socio-economic situation in October 2022, Vice Chairman of the City People’s Committee Vo Van Hoan said that the city currently has nearly 150 projects that can call for foreign investors. However, in reality, there is no project for foreign investors to sign commitments, research and realize.
He stressed that the current problem is the planning work; the investment criteria are not clear, there is still the conflict between public investment and private investment.
“It is necessary to distinguish between the list of investment projects, classify public investment and private investment projects. For private investment projects, following the bidding process to select investors to use the land according to the planning, will shorten procedures and create favorable conditions for investors,” Hoan added.
Creating long-term development step
According to Dr. Tran Du Lich, an economic expert, the HCM City economy is currently being affected by the global economic recession. This difficulty will occur in the short term. Besides, the waiting tendancy of investors also puts domestic and foreign investment flows at risk of decline in the near future. He said that if short-term challenges can be overcome, the city economy will develop stably in the medium and long term.
In a picture of many challenges, the city economy still has many bright spots in 2022. In the first 10 months of this year, the city’s gross domestic product (GRDP) is estimated to grow by 9.97%. According to the City People's Committee, for the whole year of 2022, the GRDP is estimated to grow by 9.4%, higher than the set target (up from 6 to 6.5%).
In addition, the city expects to collect 426 trillion VND to the state budget in 2022, an increase of nearly 40 trillion VND compared to the set target (386.568 trillion VND).
Chairman of the City People’s Committee Phan Van Mai said that besides the bright spots, the economic development task in the coming time will also face many difficulties and challenges. Therefore, the city should focus on removing obstacles and bottlenecks to unlock investment and development resources.
The city will continue to adjust the public investment medium term, allocate investment resources; accelerate the economic recovery and development program; formulate projects on mobilizing social investment; complete the criteria for attracting foreign investment; and be more active in administrative reform./.