While fresh foreign direct investment (FDI) approvals in the countrysuffered a sharp fall in the first quarter of this year, those in Ho ChiMinh City rose strongly in the period, a local newspaper has reported.
Accordingto the Saigon Times Daily, a recent report by the Ho Chi Minh CityDepartment of Planning and Investment says the city licensed 78 newinvestment projects with total pledges of over 691 million USD in thefirst quarter, jumping 332% over the year-ago period.
Besides, 26 operational FDI projects in the city spurred capital by a combined 62.3 million USD in the first three months.
Assuch, both fresh and additional FDI pledged for the city amounted tonearly 754 million USD in January-March, growing 125% year-on-year. Ofthe amount, up to more than 406 million USD was channeled into theprojects outside the city’s export-processing zones (EPZs) andindustrial parks (IPs), said the Investment and Planning Department.
Latelast month, the General Statistics Office (GSO) estimated the foreigndirect investment (FDI) capital pledges for new and operational projectsacross the country in the first three months at 3.33 billion USD, downby 49.6% from a year ago.
As of March 20, 252 new FDI projectshad been registered with total investment capital of more than 2 billionUSD, a year-on-year increase of 6% in number and 38.6% in capital whileinvestors of 82 operational projects had registered to add 1.29 billionUSD in total.
The local EPZs and IPs witnessed a strong rise inforeign investment in the first three months, according to the HCM Cityexport processing zones and industrial parks authority (Hepza).
TheFDI inflow into local EPZs and IPs was estimated at more than 234.5million USD in the first quarter, surging 97% year-on-year, Hepza officemanager Ho Xuan Lam was quoted as saying.
The major FDIcontributors there include a 140 million USD high-class textile-garmentproject by Vietnam Worldon Ltd. Co., a 50 million USD high-class fabricweaving project by Sheico Vietnam Ltd. Co. and a rubber glove scheme ofCleanwrap Latex Vietnam Ltd. Co. worth 10 million USD.
The city’sIPs and EPZs have also attracted plenty of hi-tech schemes in recenttimes. These schemes comprise a 4 million USD electronic componentsplant of Merrimack River Precision Mechanical Ltd. Co., an electroniccomponents facility of Arirang Vietnam and another Japanese-investedscheme.
Lam said that in the second quarter Hepza wouldconcentrate on supporting the Vietnam-Japan Hi-tech Area project in HiepPhuoc IP in a bid to woo Japanese hi-tech supporting schemes. Inaddition, the authority will accelerate construction and expansion of AnHa, Dong Nam and Tan Phu Trung IPs to lure more investors.
Hepzatargets investors with hi-tech and supporting schemes, especially thosein mechanics, electronics, chemical and processing industries, whichare identified as the top priorities by the city’s government.-VNA