Vietnam licensed 339 fresh foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with a total registered capital of around US$2.26 billion, up 4.95 per cent on-year in terms of projects and 18.9 per cent in capital, according to the government’s General Statistics Office (GSO).
Of the total, the country attracted 107 FDI projects worth over US$1.03 billion in heavy industry, 107 projects worth US$248.4 billion in light industry, 44 projects in sectors of traffic, transport and posts at US$31.3 million, 25 projects in construction industry worth US$95.2 million, 14 projects in agro-forestry sector worth US$11.9 million, ten projects in culture, health and education sectors and nine projects costing US$16.9 million in the foodstuff industry.
Notably, the petroleum sector pulled in US$37.6 million from two foreign-owned projects, compared to one project of US$20 million of the same period last year.
Among cities and provinces nationwide, Ho Chi Minh City took the lead in terms of FDI attraction in the period with 126 projects valued at $749.4 million, followed by Hanoi with 40 projects worth $494.9 million, Ba Ria-Vung Tau province with 4 projects of $310.9 million.
Northern Hai Duong province saw a great on-year increase in FDI capital with 11 projects worth $118.5 million compared to five projects worth 7.4 million in the corresponding phase of last year, posting the fourth position in the FDI attraction list.
Meanwhile, the southern provinces of Dong Nai and Binh Duong province sharply dropped in FDI attraction with 22 and 42 projects worth $ 73.08 million and $65.03 million respectively in January and June this year, falling to fifth and sixth rankings. During the same period of 2005, Binh Duong and Dong Nai licensed 66 and 26 projects of $165.2 million and $276.9 million respectively.
Khanh Hoa province came next with two projects, costing $60.6 million and Hai phong city with 14 projects worth 49.7 million.
Hong Kong was the biggest investor in Vietnam in the period with total registered capital of $615.2 million for four projects. Following were South Korea with $485.2 million in 95 projects, the US with $463.9 million in 24 projects, Japan with $322.4 million in 60 projects and Singapore with $78.7 million in 15 projects.
According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in the first half of 2006, Vietnam witnessed big foreign-owned projects such as the Intel Group’s $605 million project in Ho Chi Minh City, the $314 million construction project in Hanoi by Ho Tay Company and the project worth $300 million of Winvest Investment Company.
During the phase, the country saw the strong development of the foreign-invested sector with a total turnover of $12.45 billion, up nearly 17 per cent on-year, of which export turnover fetched $6.64 billion, 30.8 per cent higher than the same period of 2004.
By late June of 2005, the number of laborers in the FDI sector has increased to 29 per cent to one million, the ministry said.
There have been 35 countries and territories in the world receiving licenses to invest in Vietnam since the beginning of this year.
The country has targets to lure $6.5 billion of FDI in 2006, including capital raised by existing FDI firms in the country, and to disburse $3.5 billion.
Vietnam reported a foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow of $6.33 billion and disbursement of $3.3 billion in 2005, up 32.7 per cent and 15.4 per cent, respectively, against the previous year.
GSO June 2006
Vietnamese
