HCM City (VNA) – A leader of Ho Chi Minh City onJanuary 17 expressed his hope that the World Bank (WB) will assist Vietnam’ssouthern economic hub to build an international financial centre.

At an event to unveil the WB’s VietnamDevelopment Report 2019, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee NguyenThanh Phong said although the city has taken leading steps in developmentconnectivity, the size of its economy remains modest with 58 billion USD.Therefore, despite a high annual growth rate, the local economy still lags farbehind those of big cities in the region.

Noting some causes of this fact, he said HCMCity has a low starting point, lax connectivity, and poor infrastructure whichhas yet to meet standards or be connected with that in the region.Additionally, its participation in domestic and international value chains isstill limited while underdeveloped logistics services are unable to meetlong-term development demand.

The official said he hopes the WB and expertswill work out effective solutions to help HCM City address existingconnectivity shortcomings, calling on them to assist the city to develop fastand sustainably in the time ahead.

There remains much room for the local economicgrowth, so a growth rate of over 8.5 percent is completely possible, Phongnoted.

He said with the viewpoint that the more HCMCity develops, the more it can contribute to the nation, the municipaladministration is proposing central agencies build an international financialcentre here as part of the national development strategy for 2021-2030.

Therefore, HCM City hopes that the WB, as theworld’s largest financial organisation, will step up connection activities tohelp the city maintain its stature as an economic locomotive of Vietnam.

At the event, experts shared the view thatconnectivity is necessary to improve competitiveness amid the increasinglyextensive international integration, and it will help comprehensively bolstereconomic growth and resilience, particularly when HCM City and the neighbouringMekong Delta region are now under severe impact of climate change and saltwaterintrusion.

WB Country Director for Vietnam Ousmane Dionesaid the fast changes in international trade and domestic consumption models,along with growing disaster risks, will influence the connectivity demand inVietnam in the future.

Upgrading the connectivity system, not onlyinfrastructure but also transport and logistics services, by appropriatepolicies and investment will help the country move farther in the promotion ofintegration, inclusive development and resilience, he added.

Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city in Vietnam and the economic hub of the southern region. Accounting for 0.6 percent of Vietnam’s total land area and about 9 percent of the country’s population, it is part of the southern key economic zone, which also comprises Dong Nai, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Binh Duong, Long An, Tay Ninh and Binh Phuoc provinces. In the southern economic hub, over 3,000 projects across all sectors are supported by foreign capital, while the number of registered enterprises has exceeded 100,000.

In 2019, the city attracted 8.3 billion USD worth of foreign investment, with its labour productivity being nearly three times that of the whole country (299.8 million VND per person, an increase of 6.8 percent over 2018).

The local gross regional domestic product (GRDP) reached more than 1.34 quadrillion VND, an 8.32 percent increase year-on-year.

Before the outbreak of COVID-19, the city set a target of achieving a growth rate of 8.5 percent for GRDP in 2020, with total private investment accounting for 35 percent of GRDP.

This year, HCM City also aims to have 44,000 new businesses, creating 135,000 new jobs./.