Viet Nam receives 2.84 bil USD in FDI in six months

Viet Nam granted licenses to nearly 350 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects worth 2.84 billion USD in the first half of 2006, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) reported.

Most of the newly-licensed projects focus on the industrial, construction and service sectors in key economic zones such as Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City, and the southern provinces of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai and Binh Duong.

According to the MPIs estimates, although the number of FDI projects and the amount of registered capital during the last six months did not far exceed the figures from last year, Viet Nam has succeeded in attracting large-scale high-tech projects that are especially needed for its economic growth.

So far this year, licenses have been granted to the US-based Intel Group for a 605 million USD plant to manufacture software chips and computer parts in HCM City, the Western West Lake company for a 314 million USD urban area project and the US Winvest LLC group for a 300 million USD tourism complex in the southern coastal province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

Over the last six months, the FDI-invested sector has posted healthy growth, earning a total turnover of 12.45 billion USD, up nearly 17 percent over the same period last year. Exports value by this sector grew by almost 30.8 percent to 6.64 billion USD.

Foreign-invested enterprises have created more jobs for Vietnamese workers. In the year to the end of June, the total number of workers increased by 29 percent to over 1 million from the previous figure of 829,000.

According to economic analysts, Viet Nam has not taken full advantage of the "new wave of foreign investment." Many investors are still waiting for legal guidelines for the implementation of the new Investment Law and the new Enterprise Law.

(Source: VNA)