FDI down but disbursement up
Disbursement of foreign investment in the first seven months was marginally up over the same period last year, reaching US$6.4 billion, according to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).
The year's target is $10-11 billion.
"Improving the investment climate and paying more attention to the quality of foreignment investment should receive our priority," commented Central Institute of Economic Management deputy director Vo Tri Thanh.
During the seven-month period, the nation attracted $9.1 billion billion in FDI, 68 per cent of the amount in the same period last year and far below the year's target of $22 – 25 billion.
Over 530 new projects were licensed during the period, worth a combined $8.4 billion, an increase of 5.4 per cent in the value of new projects but a 16-per-cent decrease in the number of projects.
In July alone, 16 projects registered to increase capital by a combined $190 million, bringing the amount of capital added to existing projects in the seven months to a total of $715 million.
"I don't see any big change in newly registered FDI or disbursment in the first seven months," said Thanh. "We should be assessing FDI trends over a course of years rather than months."
The southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau was the top destination for foreign investment, attracting $2.15 billion or 25.6 per cent of the total registered capital. It was followed by the northern province of Quang Ninh with $2.14 billion and HCM City, with over $1 billion.
The leading sources of foreign investment during the period included the Netherlands, South Korea, Japan, the US, Taiwan, Mainland China, Singapore and Russia.
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