HCMCity (VNS/VNA) - More than 6,000 enterprises in HCM City haveresumed operations following the containment of the COVID -19 pandemic and morethan 30,000 new ones with capital of 696 trillion VND have been set up thisyear, the city chairman has said.

Nguyen Thanh Phong, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said of thenew companies, 579 have registered capital of over 100 billion VND (4.3 millionUSD) each, indicating the vitality of the business community.

There are more than 438,000 enterprises in the city, accounting for 32 percentof the country’s total number, 54 percent of the city’s economy and 67 percentof its investment. 

Phong said the city would continue to support enterprises as part of its effortto revive business activities.

“The city has basically contained the second wave of the outbreak and notdetected any local infection for more than two months.

“It has entered a new normal status with the task of both containing theoutbreak and reviving the economy.”

The top priority would be to help businesses maintain production and avoidbankruptcy, and prevent workers from losing jobs, he said.

He has urged the HCM City Business Association to develop software to collectinformation about businesses such as how seriously they have affected by thepandemic so that the city could easily address their problems based on thedata.

Speaking at a seminar last week on reviving the city’s economy amid thecontinuing global pandemic, Phong pointed out the challenges facing the city.

“The city’s economy grew at less than 1.2 percent, the lowest ever. More than27,000 businesses suspended operations because of the pandemic. The totalregistered capital of enterprises in the city has fallen by more than 140trillion VND.”

Services, accounting for more than 60 per cent of the city’s economy, have beenhit hardest, especially tourism and accommodation. 

“Some 4,400 companies, including 1,300 travel businesses, have been affectedwith 100,000-120,000 jobs lost,” Phong said.

Small and medium-sized enterprises, which account for 98 percent of allenterprises, have been severely impacted, he said.

He promised the city would continue to help companies reduce costsand encourage replacement of imports with local goods. 

“The city plans to soon announce specific policies to help badlyaffected enterprises and sectors such as travel, restaurants, hotels, andtransport- and tourism-related services.”

It also plans to roll out a second aid package worth 12 trillion VND (517.64million USD) exclusively for enterprises with preferential loans for employersto maintain production, retain workers and ward off bankruptcy with prioritygiven to micro and small-sized enterprises, he said.

Chu Tien Dung, President of the HCM City Business Association, said the cityshould relax the conditions for enterprises to get easier access to supportpackages.

The State Bank of Vietnam should also amend Circular 01 for this purpose, headded.

It is important to support enterprises to ensure production and create domesticsupply chains and reduce corporate income tax and value added tax for them, hesaid. 

Phong also noted the importance of the city’s digital transformation as it aimsto become a smart city with e-government, e-enterprises and anelectronic society by 2030.

By 2030 it also aims to push all public services onlineand provide them on multiple platforms, including mobiledevices. The digital economy is expected to account for 40 percent of thecity’s economy.

The rate of individuals and enterprises having electronic accounts for paymentswill exceed  85 percent.

To obtain these goals, Phong said the city would strengthen communications andimprove awareness among its workers, public and enterprises andcreate shared databases./.