Employees at work at Samsung Electronics CE Complex in the Saigon Hi-Tech Park in HCMC’s Thu Duc City. The city’s GRDP grew 5.46% in the January-June period - PHOTO: NDO

HCMC – Despite the Covid-19 resurgence, HCMC reported a 5.46% increase in the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in the first half of the year, according to the HCMC Statistics Department.

Of these, the agro-forestry-fishery sector posted a 0.48% decline. Meanwhile, the manufacturing and construction and service sectors and excise taxes less subsidies on products grew 3.58%, 5.86% and 7.08%, and contributed 0.84%, 3.66% and 0.97%, respectively, to the overall economic growth rate, news site Vnexpress reported.

The GRDP growth in the first half of 2021 was much higher than the 1.02% in the same period last year, but the second lowest growth over the past decade.

The city’s Index of Industrial Production increased 5.9% over the same period last year.

Among the four key industries, mechanical engineering and electronics had the highest growth with two digits, followed by food processing and the pharmaceutical chemistry.

For the services, trade, transport and finance-banking-insurance had the largest proportions.

The total retail sales of goods and services in the first half reached nearly VND541.7 trillion, up 7.3% year-on-year.

In the period, the city exported US$20.3 billion worth of products, up 5.6%. The city saw five export products with revenue of over US$1 billion each, including computers, electronic products and accessories; textiles and garments; machinery, equipment, tools and machine parts; and footwear.

On the other hand, the city spent some US$24.9 billion on imports, up 21.3%.

Thus, the city incurred a trade deficit US$4.53 billion in the first half of the year. China, the United States and Japan were the city’s largest trade partners.