Poor FDI reporting deters management

A closer look at foreign-invested enterprises’ business performances is needed to get an accurate snapshot of Vietnam’s investment picture.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) last week urged industrial and export processing zones’ authorities and provincial investment officials to continue examining foreign-invested enterprises’ (FIEs) business and investment performances.

The findings would provide an insightful look into the country’s foreign direct investment (FDI) picture.

FIA head Do Nhat Hoang said the investment decentralisation mechanism had prompted many localities to engage in a big race to hunt for FDI. But, they had failed to report their true FDI attraction situation.

“Thus we cannot make accurate forecast Vietnam’s FDI picture, especially capital disbursement. This would affect the government’s FDI attraction strategy,” he said.

Hoang said committed FDI this year was expected to hit $20 billion and disbursed capital would be around $11-$12 billion.

“But now we cannot rest assured that such figures will be touched, due to poor provincial reporting,” Hoang said.

He said many provincial authorities were lax in post-licensing monitoring.

“Thus we do not have sufficient information to report to the government… We also cannot help enterprises to operate successfully in Vietnam if they refuse to report their investment and business,” Hoang said.

“Any locality failing to update and report FDI information and FIEs’ investment and business will be punished,” he said. – VIR

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