Ho Chi Minh City has gradually controlled the pandemic and reopened production and business activities under a motto of “Safety first”, and recorded positive economic performance.

Budget contributions in the city were estimated to have increased 8.6 per cent year-on-year in the first eleven months, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Statistics Office. Excluding revenue from the financial reserve fund, total budget revenue is estimated to have increased 6.2 per cent.

This is a positive sign for year-end budget collection efforts. Budget contributions in the first eleven months totaled around VND347.298 trillion ($15.32 billion), reaching 95.2 per cent of the estimate.

According to Mr. Tran Phuoc Tuong, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Statistics Office, the rise in budget revenue mainly comes from the positive results of businesses in the real estate and banking and finance sectors. The impact of the policy on extending tax payments under Decree No. 52/2021/ND-CP contributed to an increase in total budget revenue in the first half of the year.

Over the remaining months of 2021, the city will try to fulfill the double target of “controlling the pandemic and protecting people’s health while at the same time stabilizing society and supporting businesses to overcome the difficulties.”

In order to reach these targets, it will focus on four main tasks. Firstly, it will continue to apply pandemic prevention measures. Secondly, it will mobilize the entire political system and offer financial and social support such as tax exemptions or insurance and so on. Thirdly, it will focus on addressing bottlenecks in project implementation, especially key, large-scale projects. And lastly, it will promote the application of information and communications technology in all administrative activities of State agencies, viewing this as an urgent task in building e-government.