HCM CITY— HCM City has set an ambitious target of achieving economic growth of over 10 per cent in 2026, a goal described by city leaders as both critical and highly challenging given the city’s vast economic scale.

To realise this target, the southern economic hub is mobilising the entire political system, the business community and society at large, while placing strong emphasis on unlocking private investment and accelerating public spending.

Speaking at a recent review of the city’s socio-economic performance, Chairman of the city People’s Committee, Nguyễn Văn Được, said the pursuit of double-digit growth would be the city’s foremost economic task in 2026.

With an economic scale of around VNĐ3 quadrillion (approximately US$125 billion), he noted that achieving growth of more than 10 per cent would require the creation of roughly VNĐ300 trillion (US$12.5 billion) in additional value – a daunting challenge for a city of such size.

Được pointed out that state budget investment capital for this year is estimated at only about VNĐ150 trillion ($6.25 billion), covering just half of the additional value needed.

As a result, the city must strongly mobilise social resources and encourage greater investment from enterprises and the private sector.

To this end, the municipal administration has drawn up specific action plans and clearly assigned responsibilities to each vice-chairman, as well as to departments, agencies and district authorities, to ensure coordinated implementation of growth measures.

Alongside economic objectives, the city is also maintaining its focus on social welfare, particularly ensuring adequate care for policy beneficiaries and vulnerable groups during the Lunar New Year, in line with its approach of coupling economic growth with social security.

Providing an update on recent economic performance, Hoàng Vũ Thảnh, acting director of the city Department of Finance, said the city had shown strong political determination from the very beginning of the year, adhering closely to resolutions of the central Government and the municipal Party Committee, and remaining steadfast in its goal of exceeding 10 per cent GRDP growth in 2026.

In January, the city’s economy recorded a positive recovery compared with the same period last year.

Total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue were estimated to rise by 16.4 per cent, reflecting a clear improvement in domestic demand.

The industrial production index (IIP) surged by 29.6 per cent, driven by a sharp 34.5 per cent increase in processing and manufacturing output.

Import-export activities also gained momentum, with export turnover reaching about $8.1 billion, while the financial and banking system continued to operate stably, ensuring sufficient capital for production and business activities.

Public investment and infrastructure development were also pushed aggressively from the outset of the year.

The city has completed the allocation of its annual public investment plan, while the disbursement rate for 2025 reached 93.8 per cent.

Disbursement for the 2026 plan has so far achieved 7.2 per cent of the target assigned by the Prime Minister.

Nguyễn Khắc Hoàng, head of the city's Statistics Office, noted that although January coincided with the run-up to the Lunar New Year – a period typically marked by seasonal fluctuations in production and consumption – the city’s economy continued to show encouraging signals.

Inflation remained well under control, with the consumer price index rising by just 2.44 per cent.

Retail sales, services and tourism revenues posted strong growth, while the number of newly established enterprises and newly licensed foreign direct investment (FDI) projects increased, with 160 new projects approved, underscoring sustained investor confidence.

State budget revenue in the city also rose by 10.3 per cent year on year.

Hoàng stressed that to secure growth of over 10 per cent for the whole of 2026, HCM City must fully leverage its key growth drivers, including consumption, exports and public investment, starting from the very first quarter.

“Growth momentum must be built from Q1. For public investment alone, around VNĐ30 trillion needs to be disbursed in the first quarter. Early disbursement will allow projects to come into operation sooner and create additional room for growth in subsequent quarters,” he said.

From an industrial development perspective, Bùi Minh Trí, head of the city Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (Hepza), said the authority was accelerating efforts to bring four additional industrial parks into operation.

At present, 66 industrial parks in the city have been licensed, but only 59 are operational. Hepza is also actively promoting the establishment of a free trade zone (FTZ) under a proposal already submitted to the municipal People’s Committee, which is expected to further strengthen the city’s growth momentum in the coming years.— VNS