Da Nang's economy showed clear signs of recovery in Q1 2021, building momentum for recovery and growth in the following quarters. Notably, import-export activity increased and many new investment projects came to the city…
In line with the theme “Year of restoring growth and accelerating economic development”, in Q1 2021 the City Party Committee and City People's Committee focused on leading and directing the implementation of many flexible, practical solutions to gradually regain economic growth momentum across all sectors. Effectively carrying out the dual task of controlling the pandemic while promoting production and business, along with stepping up investment attraction, has brought bright signs to the city's economic picture.
Exports rise; tourism and services show signs of recovery
Da Nang's economy showed clear signs of recovery in Q1 2021, building momentum for recovery and growth in the following quarters. Notably, import-export activity increased and many new investment projects came to the city…
According to the City Statistics Office, a highlight of the first months of this year was import-export activity, with total turnover estimated at USD 666.6 million, up 5.2% year on year. Of this, exports were estimated at USD 357 million, up 1.8% year on year, and imports at USD 309.5 million, up 9.4% compared with the same period in 2020.
In industrial production, despite many difficulties as domestic and foreign market demand has yet to recover, several key processing and manufacturing industries still achieved fairly good growth (wood processing, transport vehicle manufacturing...).
In the services sector, tourism and passenger transport still face many difficulties, but freight transport has shown positive developments, with an estimated increase of 14.4% year on year.
The city continues to implement stimulus measures and to strengthen and refresh its tourism products. As a result, retail sales of goods exceeded VND 16,200 billion, up nearly 17%, while revenue from accommodation and food services is estimated at more than VND 4,000 billion, up over 1.3% year on year.
As of the end of March, total state budget revenue in the city exceeded VND 6,000 billion, reaching nearly 28.5% of the target set by the central government. Domestic revenue rose nearly 8%, and import-export revenue rose nearly 40% compared with the same period last year.
In capital construction investment, Da Nang set up two inter-agency working groups in the first three months of the year to resolve difficulties and obstacles related to land, planning, finance and other issues affecting projects and land plots in the city.
In addition, the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee has been very resolute in conducting on-site inspections and directing the acceleration of key works and projects such as the Khanh Son landfill, the western ring road section from National Highway 14B to the Ho Chi Minh Road, the Hoa Lien water plant and the interchange cluster west of Tran Thi Ly Bridge, while focusing on completing investment preparation procedures to break ground on projects celebrating the 46th anniversary of the city's Liberation Day.
Total disbursement is estimated at VND 984 billion out of more than VND 9,800 billion, or 10% of the city's plan. Notably, the Government and the Prime Minister approved many important orientations, mechanisms and policies, especially the adjusted General Master Plan of the city to 2030, with a vision to 2045, laying the foundation, direction and legal basis for Da Nang's development in the coming period.
Rolling out new solutions
Mr. Pham Dinh Thanh Hoang, Head of the Enterprise – Collective and Private Economy Division (Department of Planning and Investment), observed that the resurgence of Covid-19 in many countries has affected travel as well as investors' decisions on new investments and project expansions. To prepare for attracting investment in the coming period, Da Nang has been stepping up efforts to resolve outstanding land and financial issues once and for all.
At the same time, based on the Adjusted General Plan of Da Nang City to 2030, with a vision to 2045, recently approved by the Prime Minister, the city is urgently revising its zoning plans and detailed plans for key projects prioritized for investment promotion. Da Nang is also focusing on building infrastructure and creating a clean land bank, ready to attract investors to its three main pillars: tourism, high-tech industry and the marine economy.
In addition, the city is speeding up Software Park No. 2 and the Digital Transformation Centre in Hoa Xuan, and implementing phase 2 of the pilot project to convert Hoa Khanh Industrial Park into an eco-industrial park.
Mr. Nguyen Duc Lap, Director of the Real Estate Research and Training Institute, said Da Nang recently reduced land prices for commercial and service land (from 80% to 70%) and for production and business land (from 60% to 50%). This provides positive support to the business community during this period, especially in attracting investment.
Clearly, due to the impact of Covid-19, many businesses have scaled back operations or suspended production and business while still paying periodic land rents, so the city's land-price reduction policy has met their expectations. The reduction demonstrates the Da Nang authorities' determination to stand by businesses, helping them quickly restore production and business and boosting investment attraction.
Tran Van Vu, Director of the City Statistics Office, added that based on Q1 economic data, the Statistics Office proposed several solutions, such as: boosting tourism recovery through stimulus programs; developing tourism human resources and enhancing digital transformation capacity in tourism businesses; supporting businesses and residents in creating agritourism and community-based tourism products; and understanding the difficulties and obstacles facing businesses in order to provide timely support.
Accordingly, the city will continue investment preparation procedures for key, growth-driving industrial projects; accelerate the implementation of public investment projects; organize trade promotion activities and business matching between Da Nang enterprises and other provinces and cities; and plan goods reserves to stabilize market prices.
Meanwhile, Director of the Department of Finance Nguyen Van Phung noted that, based on revenue in the first three months of the year, production and business activities in the city are generally recovering step by step, and state budget collection is on track against the assigned estimates.
However, the city's economic recovery remains uneven. Some sectors and industries continue to be affected by Covid-19, and many service businesses have yet to invest in resuming operations after the pandemic. Therefore, implementing measures to collect budget revenue effectively over the remaining months of 2021 is very important.
The Department of Finance will strengthen coordination with financial agencies in the city to plan budget collection for the remaining months of 2021, striving to meet revenue targets so that funding is available for urgent spending needs as they arise.
According to Report No. 44-BC/TU dated April 8, 2021 of the City Party Committee on work in the first quarter and key tasks for the second quarter of 2021, from April to June the city will vigorously and effectively implement the theme “Year of restoring growth and accelerating economic development”. Specifically, it will issue and effectively implement the Scheme to boost investment attraction into the city for 2021-2025, with a vision to 2030; diversify and effectively organize investment promotion activities and programs; and hold the 2021 Investment Forum in an appropriate format.
In the first three months of 2021, the city licensed 9 new foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with total registered capital of over USD 146.1 million, while 5 projects increased their capital by nearly USD 9.4 million; it also issued investment policy decisions for 5 domestic projects with total capital of nearly VND 394 billion. In terms of business registration, 776 new enterprises were registered in Q1 2021 with total registered charter capital of over VND 6,000 billion; although the number of enterprises fell, registered capital rose by more than 23% year on year.
Source: Da Nang Newspaper