FDI to reach US$14.5 billion in 2008

The figure was affirmed by Mr. Phan Huu Thang, Head of the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) in an interview with press reporters.

The MPI has released by its foreign investment report for 2007 and forecasts for 2008. Accordingly, foreign investment capital is expected to reach the record-breaking amount of US$13 billion by late 2007.

With the increase in the growth, the MPI forecasts that the country will attract about US$14.5 billion of FDI capital in 2008, an increase of 11.5 percent over 2007.

On this issue, Mr. Thang said that US$9.6 billion of FDI capital was injected into the country during the first nine months of 2007. The total amount of FDI implemented reached US$3.3 billion, an increase of 19.6 percent year on year. With these figures, we can believe that US$13 billion of FDI capital in 2007 is reachable.

FDI this year is highlighted by the number of large projects licensed, rising by more than 50 percent against the same period last year. 15 large-scale projects accounted for 45.7 percent of the country’s total registered FDI projects for the first nine months of this year.

Which fields did the large projects invest into?

Apart from some projects in heavy industry, almost large projects invested in real estate business (hotels, office, and rooms for lease). On average, each project was capitalized with US$8 million.

The statistics showed that industry led in FDI attraction with about US$4.17 billion, accounting for 50.4 percent, services attracted US$3.9 billion, and the rest invested in agriculture – forestry – aquiculture.

Could you talk about how Vietnam’s investment and business environment has been improved in foreign investors’ eyes?

Vietnam is becoming the most attractive investment destination in Asia and the foreign business community highly applauds Vietnam’s business environment (after China and Thailand) through the annual report by the JETRO.

Big investors from Japan, the Republic of Korea (RoK), and Taiwan (China) started to flood into Vietnam.

The comprehensive implementation of the investment law has created an equal competitive environment for both domestic and foreign investors. Foreign investment in some localities such as Ha Tay, Hau Giang, Vinh Phuc, and Bac Ninh had seen positive changes.

The time for granting investment licenses was reduced and the investment procedures are not as complicated as before, promoting self-control and self-responsibility from enterprises.

FDI attraction can reach US$13 billion in 2007. With the current growth, what is the concrete target for FDI attraction in 2008?

On the basis of FDI attraction in the first nine months of 2007, some concrete targets can be forecast as follows: new investment attraction reached US$13 billion, an increase of 8.3 percent over last year. Of this, the industrial zones and processing zones attracted about US$5.8 billion, an increase of 9.8 percent against last year.

With the current growth and advantages in Vietnam’s integration into the world economy, FDI attraction is forecast to record US$14.5 billion in 2008, up 11.5 percent over 2007

Major projects using hi-tech will be treated with great importance. Accordingly, 2008’s turnover is likely to reach US$38.75 billion, up 16.5 percent against 2007.

Source: Tiền Phong