Hanoi ended 2019 with high economic note, including a 4-year high GRDP growth of 7.62%, laying a strong foundation for the city to prepare for any challenges and set higher targets in 2020.

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This is especially significant as 2020 is the final year of Hanoi’s five-year socio-economic plan 2016 – 2020, as well as creating momentum for the next five years.

Director of the municipal Department of Planning and Investment Nguyen Manh Quyen said Hanoi’s strong efforts to carry out administrative reform, improve the business and investment environment and support enterprises have resulted in growing foreign investment into the city.

For a second consecutive year, Hanoi remained Vietnam’s top investment destination for foreign investors with capital commitments totaling US$8.45 billion, while the disbursed amount was reported at US$6.5 billion, or 74% of the total registered capital, the highest disbursement rate so far.

Hanoi has so far attracted a total of US$42.5 billion of FDI in 5,955 ongoing projects, while US$26.5 billion, or 62.3% of the total, has been disbursed.

Quyen said Hanoi would continue to encourage foreign investment in priority fields with high added value, such as construction, smart city, IT, high quality services, hi-tech farming, finance-banking, among others, in turn accelerating Hanoi’s process in global integration and propelling the city to a higher position in global value chain.

In 2019, Hanoi’s exports reached US$16.7 billion, up 20.3% year-on-year, in which the domestic sector made up US$9.9 billion, accounting for 59.3% of total exports and up 32.9% year-on-year. The foreign-invested sector contributed US$6.8 billion in total exports, accounting for 40.7% of the total and up 5.6%.

Director of the municipal Department of Industry and Trade Le Hong Thang said the results were encouraging as Hanoi’s export growth was much higher than the national export growth of 8.1%.

At national level, while FDI firms made up 68.8% of Vietnam’s exports, the domestic exporters in Hanoi are dominating trading activities, indicating a strong rise in local production sectors, said Thang.

A number of export products maintain high growth rate, such as textile and garment with turnover of US$2.2 billion, up 17% year-on-year; computers and electronic products with US$2.5 billion, up 5.9%; equipment and parts with US$1.8 billion, up 3%; transportation vehicles and parts with US$1.3 billion, up 16.6%.

Thang, nevertheless, expected Hanoi’s enterprises to better take advantage of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to expand their export markets, aiming to attain sustainable growth and export revenue.

The year 2019 was also a successful year for Hanoi’s taxation authority. Total state budget collection revenue in Hanoi reached VND227.41 trillion (US$9.84 billion) in 2019, up 16% year-on-year, Director General of Hanoi Tax Department Mai Son informed.

In 2020, Hanoi targets GRDP growth of at least 7.5%, higher than Vietnam's overall target of 6.8-7%. Such high growth rates in 2019 and 2020 would help Hanoi achieve an average annual GRDP growth rate of 7.33% - 7.41% in the 2016 – 2020 period, which is in line with the city’s five-year socio-economic development plan.