Ho Chi Minh City economy expected to recover with COVID-19 vaccine

GRDP in the first nine months is expected to gain 5.74 if the pandemic will be well-controlled and manufacturing will improve in the second quarter

Tran Hoang Ngan, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies (HIDS), drew up three scenarios for the city’s economy in the meeting between Ho Chi minh City People's Committee, the city's leaders, experts, and businesses.

Under the first scenario, the COVID-19 outbreak will continue until August and several localities will have brought the pandemic under control, the GRDP of Ho Chi Minh City in the first nine months would rise 5.02 per cent and economic growth for the whole year would be 4.9 per cent.

In the second scenario, the pandemic will last until July while production in the city will see stable recovery, and enterprises will be able to secure part of their raw material demand. GRDP growth in the first nine months and economic growth for the whole year are expected to reach 5.26 and 5.53 per cent, respectively.

On the other hand, under the most positive scenario, the pandemic will be well-controlled and manufacturing will improve in the second quarter. Besides, the investment environment, public investment disbursement, as well as measures to support social security for employees have been improved. GRDP in the first nine months and economic growth for the whole year are expected to gain 5.74 and 6.37 per cent, respectively.

“Vaccination is important for the city economy to recover,“ Vo Thanh Phong, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee stated. He added that the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ho Chi Minh City has already set up a group for vaccination. In the coming days, the committee will meet suppliers and enterprises to seek out reasonable vaccine sources for the city.

Phong stated that Ho Chi Minh City plays an important role in delivering products between localities in the southeast region. He also praised the contribution of enterprises who are willing to aid the city in the vaccination. Up to now, with supplies from Russia, the United States, and the UK, Vietnam has gradually moved towards the goal of purchasing 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in 2021 to immunise 75 per cent of Vietnam's population.

According to the MoH, Vietnam will have over 120 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in 2021. As of June 6, Vietnam received five million doses of vaccines from Moderna, 20 million doses of Russian Sputnik V, 30 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, 31 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech, and 38.9 million doses from the COVAX programme.