A corner of HCM City (Photo: VNA)

The service sector remained the key locomotive of the city’s economic development during January – March, contributing 71.6% to the growth and accounted for 65.5% of the economic structure.

Meanwhile, industry posted positive expansion and contributed 16.4% to the overall growth. The local index of industrial production climbed 5.1%, higher than Hanoi with 3.6%, Da Nang 0.6%, Can Tho 2.1% but lower than Hai Phong 12.6%.

State budget collection was also a bright spot with more than 138.54 trillion VND, rising 7.6% against the same time last year.

The city gained 10.1 billion USD from exports and spent 13.1 billion USD on imports, year-on-year increases of 7.5% and 3.1%, respectively.

Earnings from tourism grew 23.8% to an estimated 44.71 trillion VND.

During the period, there were 12,433 enterprises entering the market, registering 106.12 trillion VND in capital, up 12.01% in enterprise number and 8.47% in capital from the same time last year. However, 15,600 firms halted their operation, expanding 20.64% year-on-year.

Despite sound economic situation in Quarter 1, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Phan Van Mai pointed to several challenges that hampered economic growth, including low credit growth, a sluggish recovery of the realty market, and a fall in FDI attraction.

He called on competent departments and sectors to pen solutions to the current problems so as to achieve better economic performance in the following quarters.

He particularly stressed that the city must disburse 73 trillion VND in public investment by the end of the year, asking districts and relevant sectors to join hands to remove bottlenecks to realise the set target./.VNA