Hanoi’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth in the first nine months of 2021 stood at 1.28% year-on-year, significantly lower than the 3.27% recorded in the same period last year.
| Customers at Hapro Thanh Cong Supermarket in Hanoi during the social distancing period. Photo: The Hanoi Times |
The municipal Department of Statistics released the figure in its monthly report, noting a slower economic growth was due to a sharp contraction of 7.02% in GRDP growth in the third quarter amid the fourth Covid-19 outbreak.
The agro-forestry-fishery sector posted growth of 3% in the nine-month period, contributing 0.06 percentage points to overall growth; followed by industry and construction at 1.88%, or 0.4 percentage points; and the services sector with 0.85%, or 0.55 percentage points.
In the services sector, hospitality and catering services suffered a sharp decline of 26.91% year-on-year; administrative and support services by 24.82%; real estate by 8.96%; art and entertainment by 7.02%.
“Local authorities were forced to adopt stay-at-home order to contain the infection, which has led to a drastic decline in industrial output,” noted the report.
The index of industrial production in the third quarter decreased by 4.4% year-on-year, in which the manufacturing and processing, accounting for 96.5% of total production value in Hanoi’s industry sector, went down by 5.3%.
For the nine-month period, the index expanded by 4.1% year-on-year, which is however the lowest nine-month growth in the past few years.
The pandemic also forced the closure of supermarkets or convenience stores, leading to the year-on-year fall of 10.4% of the total revenue of retail sales and services to VND380 trillion (USD16.7 billion).
There were still bright spots in the economy in the first nine months, including positive growth of 8.68% in the banking-finance sector, IT and telecommunications (6.34%); science and technology (5.54%).
Total budget revenue stood at VND176.7 trillion ($7.76 billion), or 75% of the year’s estimate and rising 5.4% year-on-year.
Meanwhile, Hanoi continued to be among the top 5 largest recipients of FDI in Vietnam with total commitments of $927 million in the period.
| Overview of today's meeting. Photo: The Hanoi Times |
Safe adaptation to pandemic Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Chu Ngoc Anh at today [October 1] meeting said the city remains steadfast in fighting the pandemic and accelerating vaccination program to boost growth in the remainder of the year. “Hanoi is set to issue an economic recovery plan in line with restriction measures,” Anh said. For the time being, Anh urged local authorities to soon provide instruction on safe production and business activities during the pandemic, while creating utmost favorable conditions for trade flows. Anh expected Hanoi to speed up the disbursement of public funds and realize the target set for 2021, which remains a key task in boosting growth for the rest of the year. As of September 29, Hanoi disbursed a total of VND15 trillion ($660 million), or 36% of the Government’s target. |
