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Foreign investment level plunges
The foreign investment picture remains gloomy, with just US$6.68 billion registered nationwide in the first five months of 2009, 76 per cent lower than in the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency.
Disbursements of committed capital also declined 29 per cent to just $2.8 billion.
During the period, the nation licensed 256 new foreign-invested projects worth $2.7 billion, a decline year-on-year of a whopping 89 per cent.
However, additional capital was also registered to 40 existing projects totalling $3.96 billion, a 28-per-cent increase over last year.
Ministry officials also noted that the five-month totals were still equal to foreign investment for the entire year of 2005, when FDI totalled $6.8 billion.
US firms were the leading source of foreign investment in Viet Nam, investing over $3.85 billion, including $53.5 million in nine new projects, followed by South Korea, with 59 new projects capitalised at $1 billion, making South Korea the leading investor in terms of new registered investment in Viet Nam.
The third and fourth largest investors were Hong Kong with $540 million and Singapore with $539 million.
The services sector attracted the lion’s share of FDI, gobbling up $4.5 billion, or 67 per cent of the registered total. However, the agency noted, 96 per cent of the sum ($3.8 billion) came from additional investment into existing projects.
Meanwhile, FDI in the real estate sector reached $1.45 billion, accounting for 21.6 per cent of the total.
Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province was the most attractive destination for foreign investors, followed by HCM City, Binh Duong Province, Da Nang City and Vinh Phuc Province.
To attract more investment, the Ministry of Planning and Investment recently asked the Government to open up a number of sectors to foreign investment earlier than required under WTO commitments, including culture, health care, education, communications, maritime transportation and aviation.
Early opening would help boost investment in infrastructure, which remains one of the country’s weak points and a hindrance to the nation’s competitiveness, the ministry said.
The ministry was comprehensively scrutinising and revising master plans on national infrastructure through 2020 with an eye to promoting foreign investment in water supply and drainage, the environment, highway construction, railway services, seaports and logistics facilities.
VietNamNet, Viet Nam News
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