More funds injected into operational fdi projects

Although new foreign direct investment (FDI) attractions have slumped, many operational projects have seen a surge in additional capital, said the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The agency said the figures of both the fresh FDI and additional capital in existing projects improved in October, with the latter outpacing the former.

In particular, 186 new projects have received investment certificates this month with the total registered capital of US$638 million, or twice as much as the two previous months. Meanwhile, there have been 86 project owners raising their capital by US$732 million in October, the highest monthly figure since the year’s beginning.

Overall, there have been 861 new projects licensed in the January-October period with the combined pledged capital of US$8.88 billion, equal to 70% of that in the same period last year. Also, capital increase is recorded in 264 projects in the period with the total amount added being US$2.4 billion, or rising 38% year-on-year.

Speaking to the Daily at a promotion conference in HCMC last week, Dang Huy Dong, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, said the ministry cares more about the project quality and progress rather than the amount of registered capital.

However, given the current global economic uncertainties, the fact that many FDI enterprises keep raising investment capital in Vietnam indicates their upbeat view about the local investment environment. Their confidence in investment opportunities in Vietnam will help attract new investors, Dong added.

In line with the capital increase, FDI disbursements in the first ten months of the year are worth US$9.1 billion, rising 1% over the same period last year.

Still, the FDI capital registered in ten months, including both fresh investments and increased amount, totaled US$11.27 billion, equivalent to 78% of last year. Therefore, the target to attract US$20 billion in FDI capital for this year is hard to achieve.

According to the Foreign Investment Agency, in the year to date, the processing industry attracted the most FDI capital worth US$5.63 billion, or almost a half of the total, while areas like the distribution of power, gas and water ranked second, followed by construction and property sectors.

Source Saigon Times

Tags: invest in Vietnam, Vietnam FDI, Vietnam FDI 2011, Vietnam investment