Roundup: Foreign Investment in Vietnam Shows Signs of RecoveryDirect foreign investment in Vietnam has been showing signs of recovery and growth after a considerable rise in both the number of foreign projects and the amount of investment.The country had 112 licensed foreign projects with about 415 million U.S. dollars in investment in the first four months this year, increasing 18 percent and 14 percent respectively over the same period last year. During the first half of 2000, Vietnam had 140 direct foreign investment projects with a total registered capital of 390 million dollars, down 35 percent compared with the same period in 1999. Direct foreign investment in the country began to recover during the second half of the year 2000. The total foreign investment amounted to 2.4 billion dollars in 2000, up nine percent over 1999, with 344 foreign companies marking an 11 percent year-on-year increase. The structure of the foreign investment in the country has varied greatly among socio-economic sectors and geographic regions. About 95 percent of the total registered capital is focused on areas of material production. Among 269 newly-licensed foreign companies operating in the industrial sector in 2000, eight oil and gas projects registered a capital of 1.18 billion dollars, accounting for 60 percent of the total. As many as 75 projects were licensed in the country's agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors with 177.4 million dollars of investment. Compared with 1999 levels, last year's investment in the industrial sector was up by 13.4 percent, and the fields of agriculture, forestry and fisheries by 54.1 percent. Foreign invested projects in Vietnam reached 3.32 billion dollars in exports and 4.35 billion dollars in imports last year, 28 percent and 29 percent higher respectively than those in the previous year. As many as 350,000 workers were employed in those foreign companies last year, an increase of 18 percent over 1999. Gross domestic product (GDP) in foreign companies made up 12.7 percent of the country's GDP, and their contribution to the Vietnamese budget rose by three percent in 2000 to 280 million dollars, compared with 1999. Most of the 83 foreign projects licensed during the first quarter of this year with a total investment of 111 million dollars are engaged in the industrial and food processing sectors. Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam's biggest economic hub, took the lead in attracting direct foreign investment with 34 projects. The southern provinces of Dong Nai and Binh Duong were also successful in absorbing foreign investment in 11 and 21 projects respectively. South Korea, Hong Kong and the Netherlands invested most in Vietnam. There were a total of 2,628 foreign companies with 36.3 billion dollars in investments by the end of March this year. |
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