What to do to make Ho Chi Minh City's economy grow by double digits?

Dr. Truong Minh Huy Vu - Member of the City Party Committee, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies - spoke focusing on the topic of double-digit growth of Ho Chi Minh City in the period of 2025-2030.

The Presidium chaired the final session of the 1st Ho Chi Minh City Party Congress, term 2025 - 2030 - Photo: THANH HIEP

On the morning of October 15, speaking at the 1st Congress of Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, term 2025-2030, Dr. Truong Minh Huy Vu said that this is a very important political task that has been identified and clarified in the Congress Documents, with a target of 10-11%.

In the short term, it is necessary to increase the scale of social investment capital.

According to Mr. Vu, this is a very important political task that has been identified and clarified in the Congress Documents, with a target of 10-11%.

Mr. Vu said that the growth history of countries and cities around the world has many successful lessons but also many failures. Most of the failures are due to lack of great effort.

"The first message is that growth cannot be achieved at all costs, but must be associated with macroeconomic stability. We have had experience in the previous decade when growth was too hot and too high, leading to high inflation and instability. Therefore, growth must go hand in hand with a stable social environment and narrowing the gap between rich and poor to be sustainable," said Mr. Vu.

On the other hand, Mr. Vu said that in the short term, to achieve the current rapid growth rate (8.55-10%), the only way is to increase the scale of social investment capital. In the medium term, Ho Chi Minh City needs to mobilize about 3 million billion VND, including many sources such as public investment, private investment, consumption...

In the medium and long term, we must stimulate aggregate supply, that is, create an open business environment, encourage people to start businesses, and apply science and technology. This is the spirit of the Central Resolutions, which is very much in the right direction.

Speaking specifically about Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Vu said: "We have international and domestic experience, so Ho Chi Minh City's expansion has the foundation to achieve high growth in the coming years."

Specifically, Mr. Vu said that Ho Chi Minh City currently has many positive points such as merging three localities to form a national growth pole; large population, high education, concentrating resources in major economic sectors; along with favorable natural conditions, having developed seaports, industry, and services.

However, in the development history of the three localities and through recent reports, it is still clear that there are still limited connections, especially in terms of transportation and infrastructure.

Along with that, in the recent development period, the role of manufacturing industries has not been well prepared.

"The current world context is complex, strongly polarized, and uncertain, especially with a very open economy like Ho Chi Minh City, closely linked to global import and export, easily affected by external fluctuations," Mr. Vu analyzed.

5 key solution groups to achieve double-digit growth

Dr. Truong Minh Huy Vu speaks - Photo: THANH HIEP

Based on the analysis, the Director of the Institute for City Development Studies proposed five key groups of solutions. Notably, in terms of institutions, Mr. Vu suggested improving the institutional capacity of Ho Chi Minh City. This must be the focus of this term.

According to Mr. Vu, we have long been familiar with the concept of law at the Central level, from laws to decrees and resolutions. However, historical experience from Resolution 54 to Resolution 98, then Resolution 188 on metro, shows that Ho Chi Minh City needs to clearly visualize what it wants, design arguments, data, specific and convincing evidence, and proactively follow the Central level.

"In the next term, we have a number of key points clearly stated in the document, which need to be specified and implemented," said Mr. Vu.

Regarding economic model transformation, Mr. Vu said that the data shows that the development foundation of Ho Chi Minh City is focused on industry - trade - services, which needs to be associated with new trends: green economy, digital economy.

The city needs to focus on implementing major projects such as industrial relocation, developing industrial parks and high-tech parks in a modern direction. On the other hand, although agriculture accounts for a small proportion, it is very important, especially after the merger, because it is an important support for the environment, social security and economy.

On the other hand, regarding strategic infrastructure, Mr. Vu analyzed that in the past term, the bright spot of the three localities and the whole region was the completion of many large infrastructure projects, especially the groundbreaking of Ring Road 3, Ring Road 4 and expressways.

However, the limitation still lies in infrastructure. In the orientation of "three regions, one special economic zone, three corridors, five pillars", it is necessary to focus on developing connecting infrastructure, especially railway lines for transporting people and goods connecting production areas.

"In addition, technical infrastructure and digital infrastructure are extremely important. According to calculations, digital transformation and digital infrastructure can contribute greatly to Ho Chi Minh City's economy in the coming period, especially with infrastructure serving the international financial center," said Mr. Vu.

Mobilizing all resources

Dr. Truong Minh Huy Vu said that in recent years, state resources have been limited, mainly relying on socialization and the private sector.

In the coming period, he said there are two things that need to be clarified: due to high growth, the total amount of social investment capital mobilized must also be very large; the target set is about 30 - 40%.

From there, Mr. Vu suggested diversifying resources and mobilization methods in many fields such as transportation, health, education, environment, and society.

"The success or failure of projects in the next five years depends largely on whether or not social investment capital can be mobilized, and how," said Mr. Vu.

Regarding human resources, according to Mr. Vu, after the merger, the expanded area of ​​Ho Chi Minh City has more than 70 universities, which is an extremely important resource.

Not only are they human resource training facilities, but they are also economic resources, innovation centers, startups and knowledge services, which can create new businesses in the future.

TIEN LONG - THAO LE

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/lam-gi-de-kinh-te-tp-hcm-tang-truong-2-con-so-20251015092157284.htm