According to Resolution 60 of the 11th Plenary Session of the 13th Central Committee, the total number of provincial-level administrative units after the merger will be 34 (28 provinces and 6 centrally governed cities).

As part of this plan, the provinces of Ba Ria - Vung Tau and Binh Duong will be merged with Ho Chi Minh City under the name Ho Chi Minh City. The political and administrative center will remain in the current Ho Chi Minh City. All three localities are part of Vietnam’s key southern economic zone.

Once the merger is completed, the new Ho Chi Minh City will become a "super city" leading the country in economic indicators.

Preliminary data from the General Statistics Office shows that in 2023, the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) at current prices of Ho Chi Minh City reached over 1.613 quadrillion VND (approximately USD 66 billion), nearly 3.4 times higher than Binh Duong’s GRDP of 477.119 trillion VND (USD 19.5 billion), and 3.9 times that of Ba Ria - Vung Tau at 410.221 trillion VND (USD 16.8 billion).

The combined GRDP of the three localities in 2023 is estimated at more than 2.5 quadrillion VND (over USD 102.3 billion), representing around 24.22% of Vietnam’s total GDP.

In terms of domestic budget revenue for 2023, Ho Chi Minh City collected approximately 302.419 trillion VND (USD 12.4 billion), Binh Duong 53.246 trillion VND (USD 2.2 billion), and Ba Ria - Vung Tau 39.445 trillion VND (USD 1.6 billion).

Together, these three localities accounted for nearly 26.86% of the total domestic budget revenue in 2023, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Regarding per capita GRDP, preliminary 2023 statistics indicate that all three areas had higher per capita income than the national average of 102.9 million VND (USD 4,210) per person per year.

Specifically, Ho Chi Minh City reached 170.6 million VND (USD 6,980), Binh Duong 169 million VND (USD 6,910), while Ba Ria - Vung Tau achieved 345.4 million VND (USD 14,130) per person annually - about 3.36 times the national average, twice that of Ho Chi Minh City, and 2.04 times that of Binh Duong.

In terms of foreign direct investment (FDI), preliminary 2023 data shows Ho Chi Minh City approved 1,234 FDI projects with registered capital totaling USD 5.985 billion. Binh Duong attracted 140 projects with USD 646 million in registered capital, and Ba Ria - Vung Tau had 21 projects with nearly USD 1.376 billion in investment.

The combined registered FDI capital of the three localities in 2023 exceeded USD 8 billion, accounting for 20.34% of the country’s total registered FDI for the year.

Tam An

The article uses preliminary statistics from "Socioeconomic Data of 63 Provinces and Cities Nationwide 2019-2023” and “Socioeconomic Statistics of Key Economic Zones 2010-2023” provided by the General Statistics Office.