Party agrees to extends pilot autonomy scheme for HCMC

As approved at the Politburo meeting chaired by Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, Ho Chi Minh City will enjoy extra autonomous decision-making power until the end of next year as a measure to help it develop to its full potential.

The Politburo noted that the city has recorded important achievements in socio-economic development, national defense and security.

The economic size of the city in 2020 was 2.7 times higher while its gross regional domestic product per capita was double that of 2010.

The city has continued to adopt innovate growth models and improve application of science and technology and restructure its economy in the right direction. As a result, its annual budget collection has always exceeded the plan, the Politburo noted.

However, it also said that the city has not fully exploited its potential and development advantages, and therefore its recent economic growth rate has slowed down compared to the previous period. The progress made in improving its investment environment was insufficient.

Therefore, the Politburo has decided to grant the city another year to implement the pilot special mechanism.

In November 2017, Vietnam’s parliament, the National Assembly (NA), passed Resolution 54, effective January 2018 to the end of 2022, which granted HCMC extra autonomous decision-making powers what would help it develop to its full potential.

Although the resolution created conditions for the city to increase its self-responsibility and solve difficult problems, actual implementation was slower than planned.

In October, the government asked the NA to allow the city another year with the autonomy policy.

It argued that the city had spent the first year developing plans and making other preparations. Then, it was heavily affected by the Covid-19 epidemic for two years (2020 and 2021), so there was not much time to fully promote mechanisms and policies.

There were still shortcomings related to the equitization of state-owned enterprises and policies to attract experts, scientists and other talents. Several other policies such as increasing environmental protection tax and special consumption tax have not been implemented in full so far.

With the latest Politburo decision, the city should target becoming the economic, financial, commercial, scientific, technological and cultural center of Southeast Asia by 2030. By 2045, it should become an economic, financial and service hub in Asia.