Vietnam needs to attract more “ clean foreign direct investment (FDI)”capital to meet the country’s economic development and itsindustrialisation and modernisation, warned experts, as there remain anumber of shortcomings in this area.
According to statistics released by the Ministry of Planning andInvestment (MPI)’s Foreign Investment Department, FDI in Vietnam hit66.5 billion USD in 2008, a 3.55 increase year-on-year. FDI capitalinjected into the Southeast Asian nation reached more than 21 billionUSD despite the global economic downturn in 2009 and this figure isexpected to rise by more than 10 percent in 2010.
However, FDI has focused on the real estate sector which does notgenerate jobs for workers, promote the transfer of technology,production and export.
The proportion of FDI in thereal estate sector accounted for more than 45.5 percent while heavy andlight industries and the processing sector only accounted for 36 percentof the country’s total FDI in 2007 and 2008.
Furthermore, there remains a number of conundrums in the procedures forinvesting in the industry sector as there are few hi-tech investmentprojects. A number of projects also fail to protect the environment whenusing outdated technologies and overusing natural resources. This willgradually turn Vietnam into a technology rubbish dump for othercountries, said experts.
Shortcomings in managerialcapability and monitoring capital sources still remain and there is avery easy going attitude to receiving FDI that the World Bank has warnedwill affect Vietnam’s prestige in the eyes of international partners.
Regarding taking tougher measures to choose sourcesof FDI, the MPI said that an increase or decrease in FDI is attached toan increasing confidence in the country’s economic development, but notto attract FDI at all costs.
According to the latestresearch from the international consultancy firm A.T. Kearney, Vietnamranks 12 th in the top 25 of the FDI Confidence Index 2010 whileMalaysia ranks 20th, Indonesia, 21 st and Singapore, 24 th .
Head of the Institute of Economics Dr Tran Dinh Thien saidthat it is time for Vietnam to select investment projects that arehigh-quality and use the best technology as well as projects that willdevelop well./.
According to statistics released by the Ministry of Planning andInvestment (MPI)’s Foreign Investment Department, FDI in Vietnam hit66.5 billion USD in 2008, a 3.55 increase year-on-year. FDI capitalinjected into the Southeast Asian nation reached more than 21 billionUSD despite the global economic downturn in 2009 and this figure isexpected to rise by more than 10 percent in 2010.
However, FDI has focused on the real estate sector which does notgenerate jobs for workers, promote the transfer of technology,production and export.
The proportion of FDI in thereal estate sector accounted for more than 45.5 percent while heavy andlight industries and the processing sector only accounted for 36 percentof the country’s total FDI in 2007 and 2008.
Furthermore, there remains a number of conundrums in the procedures forinvesting in the industry sector as there are few hi-tech investmentprojects. A number of projects also fail to protect the environment whenusing outdated technologies and overusing natural resources. This willgradually turn Vietnam into a technology rubbish dump for othercountries, said experts.
Shortcomings in managerialcapability and monitoring capital sources still remain and there is avery easy going attitude to receiving FDI that the World Bank has warnedwill affect Vietnam’s prestige in the eyes of international partners.
Regarding taking tougher measures to choose sourcesof FDI, the MPI said that an increase or decrease in FDI is attached toan increasing confidence in the country’s economic development, but notto attract FDI at all costs.
According to the latestresearch from the international consultancy firm A.T. Kearney, Vietnamranks 12 th in the top 25 of the FDI Confidence Index 2010 whileMalaysia ranks 20th, Indonesia, 21 st and Singapore, 24 th .
Head of the Institute of Economics Dr Tran Dinh Thien saidthat it is time for Vietnam to select investment projects that arehigh-quality and use the best technology as well as projects that willdevelop well./.
