Ho Chi Minh City develops firms in quality

During a local meeting on May 29, Phong said the city has so far recorded 308,977 firms. Among newly-registered ones, 42.6% were in real estate, 20.7% in trade-services, and 15% in construction. 

Since the beginning of this year, 15,492 enterprises have been licensed with a total registered investment of VND193,784 billion (US$8.4 billion), up 10.4% in volume and 54.2% in value. Up to 22,086 others applied for new business registration, raising the total newly-registered and additional capital to VND453,569 billion (US$19.72 billion), or a 2.4-fold increase. 

Su Ngoc Anh, Director of the municipal Department of Planning and Investment, said the municipal authorities are working with districts and communes to encourage business households to switch to businesses. Since early this year, as many as 413 households have changed their status to businesses. 

Permanent Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem said the city has worked with five districts and communes on this regard and will continue discussing with 24 others in June. 

The city is focusing on developing key industries instead of running after business number. In the first five months of this year, the industrial development index rose 7.29% year-on-year, including mechanical engineering (19.35%), electronics-information technology (12.1%).

According to Anh, in early this year, the city issued a decision on support for enterprises working in the manufacturing and support industries. Furthermore, a database on support industry, particularly mechanical engineering firms, has been built, making it easier for information search. 

Since 2017, the city has licensed 283 foreign-invested projects worth US$341 million, mostly from the Republic of Korea (27.8%), followed by Malaysia (13.2%) and Singapore (11.7%). Notably, manufacturing-processing accounts for 35.9 percent while wholesale and retail makes up 27.1, information and communications (16.2%), real estate (11.8%). 

Phong said major Korean firms have chosen the city as a long-term business destination. Meanwhile, those from Japan, Singapore and Malaysia may raise their capital. 

In January-May, the city earned US$14 billion from exports, up 17.1% annually.