FDI Reaches Nearly US$4 billionVietnam licensed 13 new foreign direct investment projects valued US$54 million in August, according to the Foreign Investment Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Between January and August, the country attracted 421 fresh FDI projects with a total registered capital of US$2.9 billion and saw 216 existing FDI projects increasing capital by US$1.05 billion, totalling nearly US$4 billion.
This figure is some 1 per cent lower than last year’s same period of US$4.08 billion. Although the number of fresh projects reduced by 200 units, the registered capital increased by 1.5 per cent, or US$45 million. The supplemented US$10.5 billion capital was equal to 86 per cent of last year’s same period of US$1.22 billion. Besides, the shortcomings in investment application reception are attributed to the fall in FDI attraction fall.
According to experts, the current short downturn does not reflect the general FDI increase trend into Vietnam.
According to senior officials of the Foreign Investment Department, many large projects have completed the assessment process and will be licensed soon. Recently, the Government has agreed on an over US$1 billion steel laminating project, including US$500 million in the first phase. With this trend, the Vietnam’s objective of attracting US$6.5 billion FDI in 2006 is within reach.
Export Tops at 24.3 per cent GrowthAccording to statistics, seven commodities exceeded US$1 billion export revenues in the first eight months of 2006. However, the trade deficit is also increasing sharply.
The Ministry of Trade said the national export revenues reached US$3.56 billion in August, totalling US$26 billion in the January-August period, a year-on-year growth of 24.3 per cent.
Crude oil ranked first with US$5.74-billion export earnings, followed by garments and textiles US$3.93 billion, footwear US$2.4 billion, aquatic products US$2.02 billion, wood products US$1.2 billion, rice US$1.045 billion, and computer and electronics parts US$1.036 billion.
Other commodities also made high takings, including rubber US$804 million, coffee US$734 million, and electrical cable and wire US$421 million.
Almost all commodities saw strong increases in both quantity and value. Pepper topped in value growth with 43 per cent, followed by coffee 34 per cent and tea 33 per cent. Bike and its parts, and rice suffered declines of nearly 20 per cent and over 6 per cent, respectively.
The foreign-invested sector still ranked first in the first eight months with US$14.98 billion, followed by Vietnamese enterprises with US$11 billion.
The August import continues rising considerably by 25 per cent to US$28.7 billion. The trade deficit has reached nearly US$3 billion.
P.V
Vietnamese
