In the remaining months of the year, Hanoi would continue to focus on rebooting economic growth and addressing concerns of the business community, according to the municipal People’s Committee.

Overview of the conference.

Additionally, the city would speed up the public investment progress to ensure the disbursement of 100% of the target amount for this year.

At a meeting on September 1, Director of Hanoi’s Department of Planning and Investment Nguyen Manh Quyen said in August, the majority of economic indicators improved against the previous month amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Among them, the city Index of Industrial Production (IIP) expanded 3.4% month-on-month and 4.1% year-on-year in the January – August period; revenue of retail sales of consumer goods and services in Hanoi was estimated at VND261.9 trillion (US$11.35 billion) in August, up 1.37% month-on-month and VND1,920 trillion (US$83.18 billion) in the 8-month period, up 7.4% year-on-year.

Director of Hanoi's Department of Planning and Investment Nguyen Manh Quyen (standing).

Meanwhile, the number of tourists coming to Hanoi in August plunged 70.3% month-on-month to 310,000, accumulating a total of 6.29 million in January – August, down 67.3% year-on-year.

The city's state budget revenue as of August was estimated at nearly VND180 trillion (US$7.8 billion), equivalent to 64.3% of the estimate and up 1.6% year-on-year.

As of the end of August, over 17,800 new businesses were established in Hanoi with registered capital of VND241.7 trillion (US$10.47 billion), down 3% in term of number of enterprises but up 1% in value, year-on-year.

To date, Hanoi is home to over 295,800 operational enterprises.

Based on preliminary data from the first half of 2020, Hanoi’s authorities have devised two growth scenarios for the rest of the year.

In the first scenario and also the most optimistic one, Hanoi could achieve a growth rate of 5.9% in 2020, 1.3 times the nation’s optimistic growth scenario of between 4.4 and 5.2%, if growth rates in the third and fourth quarters reach 7.8% and 8.4%.

In a second scenario, Hanoi’s GRDP would expand 5.4%, 1.3 times the nation’s neutral growth scenario of 3.6 – 4.4%, if the city’s economy expands 6.9% and 7.4% in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.