Following the national plan to merge certain provinces and municipalities, Vietnam will officially have six centrally governed cities.

Prior to the mergers, these six cities collectively contributed nearly 50% of the country’s GDP and approximately 62% of the national budget revenue.

According to Resolution 60 of the 11th Plenary Session of the 13th Party Central Committee, the number of provincial-level administrative units will be reduced to 34, including 28 provinces and 6 centrally governed cities.

The six centrally governed cities will include: Hanoi; Hai Phong (a merger of Hai Phong and Hai Duong Province); Hue; Da Nang (a merger of Da Nang and Quang Nam Province); Ho Chi Minh City (a merger of HCMC, Binh Duong Province, and Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province); and Can Tho (a merger of Can Tho, Soc Trang Province, and Hau Giang Province).

Preliminary data from the General Statistics Office (GSO) for 2023 shows that the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) of the new Ho Chi Minh City (including Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau) is estimated at 2,500,589 billion VND (approximately $99 billion), nearly double that of Hanoi and accounting for around 24% of the national GDP.

Hanoi follows with a GRDP of 1,290,576 billion VND (about $51 billion). Next is Hai Phong (including Hai Duong) with a GRDP of 582,976 billion VND (around $23 billion).

Can Tho (including Soc Trang and Hau Giang) ranks fourth with a GRDP of 251,658 billion VND (roughly $9.95 billion), followed closely by Da Nang (including Quang Nam) at 250,657 billion VND ($9.91 billion). Hue comes last among the group with a GRDP of 72,771 billion VND (around $2.88 billion).

In total, the combined GRDP of the six cities is nearly 5 million billion VND, making up about 50% of the country’s GDP in 2023.

Similarly, domestic budget revenue from these six cities in 2023 reached approximately 911,417.4 billion VND (about $36 billion), contributing 62% of Vietnam’s national budget.

Ho Chi Minh City led with 395,110 billion VND (around $15.64 billion) in domestic budget revenue, surpassing Hanoi’s 381,449 billion VND ($15.1 billion).

The remaining cities each recorded revenues under 100,000 billion VND ($3.96 billion), including Hai Phong at 63,164 billion VND ($2.5 billion), Da Nang at 39,862.1 billion VND ($1.58 billion), Can Tho at 21,232.4 billion VND ($840 million), and Hue at 10,599.9 billion VND ($420 million).

In terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction, Ho Chi Minh City topped the list in 2023 with over $8 billion in registered FDI.

Hai Phong ranked second with $4.93 billion in registered FDI.

FDI figures for the remaining cities were more modest: Hanoi received $643 million; Da Nang $261.4 million; Can Tho $178.4 million; and Hue $100 million.

Regarding goods exports, preliminary data from the General Department of Customs showed that Ho Chi Minh City again led the way with an export value nearing $79.12 billion in 2023. This figure exceeded the combined export totals of Hanoi ($16.66 billion), Hai Phong ($36.25 billion), Da Nang ($3.68 billion), Can Tho ($3.7 billion), and Hue ($1.12 billion).

In total, the six centrally governed cities accounted for an estimated $140.52 billion in exports, representing 39.61% of Vietnam’s total export turnover for 2023.

Tam An

(This article utilizes data from the “2019-2023 Socio-Economic Profile of 63 Provinces and Cities,” the 2023 Statistical Yearbook by the General Statistics Office, preliminary import-export statistics from the General Department of Customs, as well as provincial budget data provided by Hai Duong and officially released by Hai Phong.

Data used in this article reflects merged provincial-city units in accordance with Resolution 60 of the 11th Plenary Session of the 13th Party Central Committee.?)