The southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau is set to achieve positive economic growth in 2022 despite the COVID-19 pandemic and global economic complications, partly thanks to its efforts to improve its business climate.
Pham Viet Thanh, its Party secretary, said with the pandemic effectively contained, socio-economic activities were seeing a tremendous recovery across the board.
It is estimated that the province’s index of industrial production will increase by 10.66 per cent this year, while industrial output will rise by 10.47 per cent, surpassing the target.
The province’s economy is worth around VND390.3 trillion (US$16.5 billion) after expanding by 7.15 per cent this year.
Many of its key industrial products are seeing great growth, including frozen fish, canned beers, natural gas, and black Portman cement.
Agricultural production is set to grow only slightly this year due to global economic challenges, but the province is focusing on maintaining stable production and adoption of agricultural technologies.
Exports excluding crude oil are expected to be worth nearly US$6.4 billion (8.74 per cent increase), with key markets like Asia, America and Europe seeing high growth.
Commercial activities are back to normal after the pandemic with demand for travelling, shopping, tourism, and dining out surging.
This has stimulated general retail sales, which are expected to grow by 12.42 per cent this year.
Tourism in particular saw a great recovery, with revenues from accommodation growing by around 128 per cent and from other tourism services by 137.37 per cent.
This is due to a spike in both domestic and foreign tourism since the pandemic has been brought under control and the province has been organising numerous demand stimulation events, including street music shows and sports events.
Dat Do 1 Industrial Park in Ba Ria – Vung Tau's Dat Do District. — VNA Photo
Ba Ria – Vung Tau is expected to end up with 17 new FDI projects and 41 domestic ones in 2022.
Many existing projects (25 foreign-invested and 15 local) also saw an increase in investment.
Total registered investment is around $725 million (FDI) and VND23.3 trillion (domestic).
Policies to assist businesses in terms of funding, access to technology and trade facilitation have been implemented in a timely manner.
Besides, the province has been improving its investment climate and provincial competitiveness ranking to better serve businesses and investors from outside.
It is utilising digital transformation to effect administrative reform and improve the quality of public services and help local businesses promote their goods and services online.
Ba Ria - Vung Tau is also focusing on a number of other activities and policies that contribute to socio-economic development such as enhancing disease prevention and control capability, improving education quality to ensure future supply of quality manpower, and providing career counselling to students. – VNS