HCM City (VNA)ꦑ - The HCM City economy has maintained an increasingly positive trend and a stable economic growth in the first 11 months of the year, creating favourable conditions to achieve the year's socio-economic targets, according to a report from the HCM City Institute for Research and Development.

The report, released at a meeting of the People's Committee on November 26, said industrial production rose by 7.7 percent. Industrial production has been restructured with a focus on increasing manufacturing and reducing mining. The city's four major industries (mechanics/manufacturing, chemicals/rubber/plastics, electronics, and food processing) are estimated to grow at 8.1 percent, higher than last year and also higher than the sector average. Foreign direct investment is on the rise. As of November 20, city authorities licensed 517 new foreign projects and permitted 141 existing projects to increase their capital, with 3.2 billion USD to be invested, up 1.7 percent year-on-year. Besides, nearly 28,750 new domestic companies were licensed.

According to the HCM City Statistics Bureau, good market management and the price stabilisation programme have helped keep prices in check, with the consumer price index in November rising by 0.1 percent compared with the previous month.

Total retail sales and services were worth nearly 61.1 trillion VND, a year-on-year increase of 8.9 percent.

Le Hoang Quan, Chairman of the city People's Committee, said economic growth is expected to be 9.8 percent this year.

To achieve this target and at the same time to create favourable conditions for 2016, city authorities and the business sector must prepare well to source inputs needed for manufacturing to meet demand, especially during Tet (the Lunar New Year), he said.

Quan also instructed authorities to help businesses in preparing for integration into the ASEAN Economic Community by the end of the year, especially with financial, taxation, educational, health, commercial, and employment issues.

𝄹 The People's Committee listed eight major tasks for next month, including stepping up the fight against tax losses, investment and business promotions with other localities in the country to create more business opportunities, and removing difficulties faced by city businesses.

The banking industry was urged to continue providing funds for businesses, keep credit conditions flexible, provide sufficient resources for the city's economy, and effectively manage the foreign currency market to keep exchange rates stable, improve balance of payments and sustain foreign currency reserves.-VNA