On the morning of June 3, 2025, the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City organized a meeting to discuss the socio-economic situation in May and key tasks and solutions for June 2025. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Nguyen Van Duoc, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Duoc, the first half of 2025 presented both opportunities and challenges. However, statistics show positive and encouraging signs. Macroeconomic indicators remain within the city’s expectations. Investment attraction has not increased significantly but is showing signs of growth, indicating a restart, and investors, both domestic and foreign, have regained confidence in the city’s investment environment.
INVESTOR CONFIDENCE RETURNS, MANY ENCOURAGING SIGNALS
Reporting at the meeting, Ms. Le Thi Huynh Mai, Director of the Department of Finance, said that the socio-economic situation of Ho Chi Minh City in May and the first five months of 2025 continued to achieve positive results, with growth rates higher than the previous month and the same period last year. Key projects and transport infrastructure projects continued to accelerate.
Specifically, the total retail sales of goods and services in May were estimated at VND 113,364 billion, up 19% compared to the same period. For the first five months of the year, the estimate reached VND 544,447 billion, up 16.8% over the same period in 2024.
Export turnover in May was estimated at USD 4.37 billion, up 3.4% compared to the previous month; the cumulative turnover for the first five months was estimated at USD 20.36 billion, up 16.1% over the same period (the same period last year saw a 14.2% increase). Import turnover in May was estimated at USD 5.36 billion, down 0.4% from the previous month; the cumulative turnover for the first five months was estimated at USD 25.98 billion, up 14.8% over the same period last year (a 6.3% increase in the same period last year).
The industrial production index in May 2025 increased by 5.1% compared to the previous month and by 9.4% compared to May 2024. In the first five months of 2025, it increased by 8.2% year-on-year (in the first five months of 2024, it increased by only 5.3%); the index of industrial production in the four key industries increased by an estimated 8.2% (compared to an increase of 4.5% in the same period).
Total state budget revenue for the first five months reached more than VND 245,700 billion, accounting for 47.26% of the estimate, up 4.38% over the same period.
In terms of foreign investment, in the first five months of 2025, the city attracted approximately USD 1,779 billion in total, including investment in the form of granted investment registration certificates and investment through capital contribution, purchase of shares, and repurchase of stakes in domestic enterprises. This figure represents an increase of 87.5% compared to the same period last year.
The Chairman of the City People’s Committee said that in the first five months of 2025, the number of investment projects received exceeded the number for the whole of 2024, indicating that investors’ confidence in the business environment of Ho Chi Minh City is gradually being restored.
The city has also actively engaged with investors in the past two months, reflecting a shift in mindset and service attitude. Chairman Nguyen Van Duoc emphasized: “This is good news, showing that the machinery is restarting with a spirit of adaptability and change.”
In terms of trade and investment promotion, the city welcomed five foreign delegations to learn about the investment and business environment and exchange information on trade and investment promotion activities. The city organized 18 trade and investment promotion activities at home and abroad, attracting more than 1,949 businesses to participate in promoting and introducing products, expanding consumption markets, and connecting businesses (B2B) between domestic and foreign enterprises, modern retail groups, and distribution systems.
Regarding addressing difficulties and obstacles for businesses, the process of reviewing and handling proposals from the City Business Association (since the beginning of the year) has achieved positive results. So far, 42 out of 46 proposals and recommendations from businesses in various fields have been resolved. For the remaining proposals, the City People’s Committee has directed relevant units to continue processing and resolving them.
PROMOTING ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM, ACCELERATING PUBLIC INVESTMENT DISBURSEMENT
Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Van Duoc said that the work of rearranging the administrative apparatus has been implemented vigorously. Ho Chi Minh City has basically completed preparations to start eliminating the district level from July 1, 2025, and will proceed with the merger of the provincial level according to the roadmap approved by the Central Government from August 15, 2025.
In addition, strategic projects such as the Ho Chi Minh City International Financial Center have been approved in principle by the Politburo. The city is actively developing the legal framework, organizational structure, and human resources for this project. Regarding the Can Gio International Transit Port project, the city is awaiting instructions from the Central Government to continue its implementation.
However, Mr. Duoc frankly admitted that there are still many existing issues. Although there has been positive growth in the current context, achieving a double-digit growth target in 2025 will not be easy. In particular, public investment has not met expectations, with only over 10% disbursed in the first five months of 2025, lower than the national average. The city has held several meetings to promote public investment projects in the coming time.
In addition to the limitation of low public investment disbursement, Ms. Le Thi Huynh Mai, Director of the Department of Finance, added that the number of enterprises temporarily ceasing operations and dissolving has increased compared to the same period last year. The implementation of the organization of the dissolution of the district level and the merger of the commune and provincial levels has somewhat affected the mindset and efficiency of public service performance.
Specifically, as of May 28, 2025, according to data from the State Treasury of Region II, Ho Chi Minh City disbursed VND 8,710 billion, reaching 10.2% of the total public investment capital in 2025.
There were 13,894 newly established enterprises with a registered capital of VND 79,625 billion, down 31.4% in number and 54% in capital compared to the same period; the additional registered capital was VND 234,131 billion, up 89.7% over the same period. The total registered and additional capital in the first five months of 2025 was VND 313,756 billion, up 5.9% over the same period in 2024.
In addition, 1,534 enterprises completed dissolution procedures, up 8.4% over the same period; 20,382 enterprises temporarily ceased operations, up 6.7% over the same period; and 7,583 enterprises resumed operations, the same as in the same period in 2024.
At the meeting, Mr. Lam Dinh Thang, Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City, added that with many positive changes in innovation, Ho Chi Minh City moved up one rank to 110th in the Global Innovation Index in 2025 and entered the Top 5 innovative startup ecosystems in Southeast Asia for the first time.
Especially in the Fintech field, with a high growth rate, the city is ranked in the Top 30 globally in Blockchain and 2nd in Southeast Asia. The contribution of total factor productivity (TFP) to GRDP has been increasing, with a contribution of science and technology to TFP growth of 74%.
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