Updates On Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Into Vietnam

According to VietNamNet Bridge (25/9/06), the following are some useful news on foreign investment projects in Vietnam:

·      Hong Kong retains first ranking among the 37 foreign investors which have invested in Vietnam since early this year and accounts for 16.5% of new investment. It is followed by the Republic of Korea, Cayman Islands of the U.K, Japan and the US;

·      With US $1.3 billion added to existing projects, the total of FDI into Vietnam was brought to over US $5.15 billion over the past nine months, an annual increase of 25.9%;

·      Many investors, especially from Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Europe and America, are seriously considering investing in business here;

·      In early September, a number of investors from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) came to Vietnam with a series of projects. Billionaire Bruce A.Khali, Director of the Millennium Airport Hotel and Representative of Dolphin Airlines, intends to invest in hotels and tourist resorts along Vietnam’s southern beaches and to open an air route linking Dubai with Vietnam;

·      Previously, Sama Dubai, a well-known real estate group, decided to invest VND 400 billion (US $25 million) in building the Cua Dai Bridge in central Quang Nam province’s Hoi An town using the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model. The group also plans to develop an urban area in Thu Thiem district, Ho Chi Minh City;

·       Incidentally, the ministry recently allowed provincial authorities to license foreign investment projects with capital of less than US $20 million or VND 300 billion;

·      Over the past nine months, Vietnam has licensed 580 foreign investment projects capitalised at US $3.8 billion, representing an increase of 1.8% in the number of projects and 47.7% in investment as compared to the same period last year.( figures recently released by the Foreign Investment Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.)

·      The industry and construction sector headed the list, making up 69.3% in the number of projects and 67.41% of the registered investment.

·     The Tyco-ons steel project, which has registered US $556 million in investment for the first phase, has brought Quang Ngai province to second place in terms of foreign investment after experiencing a long period of difficulties. This central coastal province is optimistic about its investment future as a US $226 million project on machinery engineering funded by the Doosan Company from the Republic of Korea is currently awaiting approval from the the Ministry of Planning and Investment to operate in the Dung Quat economic zone.

·      FDI’s businesses achieved US$3.3 billion, of which US$1.4 billion was from export, resulting in total revenue up to US$10.9 billion (excluding crude oil) in the first nine months of 2006, a year-on-year 38.4 percent increase.

·      FDI’s export including crude oil achieved US$17.6 billion, an increase of 26.8 % year on year.

·      National profits in the first nine months of this year reached US$21.6 billion, increasing by 28. 7 per cent year-on-year.

·      According to the ministry, the national FDI was US$300 million, raising the total executed capital in the first nine months of 2006 to US$2.78 billion, a year-on-year 8.8 percent increase.

·       This figure equals to 75.2 percent of this year target (about US$3.7 billion).