Vietnam Reports US$60Bln Registered Foreign Investment So Far

Vietnam, an emerging economy with the GDP growth rate of 8.2 per cent, has become a promising destination in the ASEAN region for foreign investors, with vibrant political and economic achievements, and Wednesday reported US$60 billion of registered foreign investment capital, Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment said.

 

The figure includes US$28.6 billion from valid FDI projects, the Department for Foreign Investment said, adding Asian economies account for 67 per cent of the 76 countries and territories investing in Vietnam as of December this year, followed by European economies 29 per cent, and American economies 4 per cent.

 

The Southeast Asian country’s five top investors, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Hong Kong, make up 60.6 per cent of the registered investment capital. Industry and construction sectors rank first with 67.5 per cent of the country’s foreign invested projects and 62 per cent of the registered capital.

 

Vietnam’s big cities and key economic zones are still widely preferred destinations for foreign investors.

 

Ho Chi Minh City ranks first with 23.4 per cent of total registered capital and 30.2 per cent of the country’s foreign invested projects, followed by Hanoi with16.7 per cent and 11.1 per cent respectively, Dong Nai province with 15 per cent and 11.5 per cent, and the southern province of Bình DDÆ°Æng with 10 per cent and 18.4 per cent.

 

Wholly foreign-invested projects account for 76.1 per cent of the projects and 58.1 per cent of their registered capital, the Department’s statistics showed.

 

The most remarkable and largest of Vietnam’s top ten FDI projects in 2006 is the US$1.126 billion hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel factory by Posco Co. Ltd from South Korea, the world’s third largest steel maker, which is expected to generate 10,000 new jobs for local people in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

 

The US$1-billion microprocessor assembling project by US-based Intel Corporation in Ho Chi Minh City Hi-tech Park, marking the biggest-ever US investment in the country, will need about 4,000 Vietnamese workers and is scheduled for debut by 2009.

 

Vietnam has pulled in US$10.2 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) this year, a record level far beyond the year target of US$6.5 billion.

 

The Vietnamese government is now trying its utmost to complete its legal, administrative systems as well as infrastructure networks to improve its business environment.