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Economy brightens for southern hub
The economy of HCM City has been recovering despite many challenges it faced, a senior official said yesterday at a meeting of the city People's Council.
Hua Ngoc Thuan, deputy chairman of the HCM City People's Committee, said the city's GDP had reached VND340.6 trillion (US$16.2 billion) in the first six months of the year, a growth of 7.9 per cent year-on-year.
Export turnover was $13.7 million and import turnover was $12.7 million during that period.
HCM City's State Budget intake was VND107.6 trillion ($5.1 billion) during the first six months, reaching 45 per cent of the year's target.
In terms of investment, as of June 20, there were 12,333 new local enterprises, with total registered capital of more than VND57 billion ($2.7 million).
At least 187 new foreign direct investment projects were granted investment licenses, according to HCM City's People's Committee.
"The economy of HCM City has been recovering, but it is still slow. The city still faces many challenges," Thuan said.
For 2013, the city originally targeted GDP growth of over 9.5 per cent. With GDP growth reaching 7.9 for the first six months, the city has set a target of 11.2 per cent for the rest of the year.
HCM City authorities also expect to reach an annual GDP per capita of $4,000.
At the meeting yesterday, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, deputy chairwoman of the National Assembly, praised the city government for recent socio-economic achievements and the important contributions it made to the country's economy amid the global economic downturn.
HCM City contributes one-third of the country's State budget intake, she said, adding that the city's task of collecting funds for the budget was a challenging one this year.
In order to reach this year's target, the city has to collect VND1 trillion ($47.6 million) daily or at least VND20 trillion ($952 million) monthly.
Until the year-end, the city needs to collect roughly VND131 trillion ($6.2 billion) for the State budget intake, to reach the year's target of VND238 trillion ($11.3 billion).
"The city should strengthen management in budget collecting to avoid losses," Ngan added.
Live TV vote
Members of the HCM City People's Council will also proceed with a confidence vote on 16 key leaders today, as part of the council's four-day meeting that will end on Saturday.
The confidence vote, conducted for the first time in the city, will be broadcast live on HCM City Television and the results will be made public. The confidence vote will be held annually, the People's Council said.
The 16 officials subject to voting will include the municipal People's Council chairwoman, vice chairman and standing members, heads of the Council's departments, and heads and members of the city People's Committee.
The People's Council nominated all of the positions.
The vote of confidence which will include three options: high confidence, confidence and low confidence, with an aim to promote democracy and the performance and accountability in the city's administrative system.
Those who receive over two-thirds of low confidence votes, or have had two consecutive years of more than 50 per cent of votes with low confidence, will face a vote for dismissal.
NA's deputy chairwoman Ngan said that the vote should be done with "a sense of justice and should be objective".
"For those who are subject to the vote, it is a challenge and opportunity for them to know more about their reputation and responsibilities about their positions as they are in charge of self-improvement," Ngan said.
Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam, chairwoman of HCM City's People's Council, asked the deputies to be fair and objective in voting.
"The vote is an important change in the operation of the municipal political system, aiming to promote democracy. Performing this procedure well will help build a strong and transparent administrative system," Tam said.
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