HCMC seeks new ways to support startups, exporters
HCMC seeks new ways to support startups, exporters
The HCMC government is looking for ways to encourage innovation among newly established enterprises and to support traders in exporting their goods and expanding their markets to improve local competitiveness, noted the city’s chairman, Nguyen Thanh Phong, at a meeting with the press on the local socioeconomic performance in the first quarter of this year, on April 2.
The city recorded a gross regional domestic product growth rate of 7.64% to reach roughly VND324.5 trillion (US$13.9 billion) in the three-month period. Besides this, the local State budget rose by 7.18% from a year earlier to more than VND98.3 trillion (US$4.2 billion) during the quarter.
Its total retail revenue from goods and services saw a 12% rise compared with the same period last year. The city brought in US$8.9 billion in export revenue, while it spent some US$10.8 billion on imports, up 5.7% and 1.3%, respectively.
The number of international visitors in the city grew by 14.1% year-on-year to over 2.2 million arrivals.
Chairman Phong stated that investment activities gained fairly good achievements. More than 8,600 new companies were established at total registered capital pledges of over VND147 trillion (US$6.3 billion), up 2.4% in number and 46% in value.
In addition, foreign investors injected more than US$1.5 billion into newly licensed projects and merger and acquisition deals, marking a year-on-year rise of 20.4%.
He noted that the number of registered enterprises to date is some 378,000, of which micro-, small- and medium-d enterprises account for a staggering 90%. Meanwhile, large enterprises valued from VND100 billion each make up 1.99% only, but their capital scale represents some 66% of the total.
The city government plans to organize a separate meeting with large enterprises to canvass their feedback and find out what the city should do to create a more favorable business environment for them to grow. “Of course, the city still pays attention to small enterprises,” he said.
In addition to its support for local startups and exporters, the local authority will roll out a program to encourage the application, research and development of artificial intelligence products in the 2019-2025 period.
