FDI influx rates stage recovery in February

Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam attracted over 5.3 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) during the first two months of this year, according to the Department for Foreign Investment under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The department said that the figure, although equal to just 70 percent of the total
posted in corresponding period last year, demonstrated the huge efforts made by the
country's localities to attract FDI within the context of the current global
economic downturn.

FDI influx suddenly surged in February with 68 newly-licensed projects worth a
total 1.5 billion USD during the first two months of 2009 compared to just 160
million USD during January.

However, these results represent just 35 percent and 31 percent of the number of
projects and the total capital, respectively, recorded last year.

During the reviewed period, more than 3.8 billion USD was added to 10 existing
projects, an increase of 41 percent over the same period last year.

The global financial crisis and economic downturn have had serious impacts on the
amount of FDI attraction in Vietnam . Hanoi , for example, licensed 30
projects, capitalised at 40 million USD in the first two months of the year,
representing 7 percent of the figure recorded during last year's corresponding
period. Central Da Nang city has licensed just one FDI project in the past two
months.

FDI enterprises also saw their export value fall by 0.7 percent and their import
value drop by 2.8 percent, year-on-year.

The Department for Foreign Investment has urged local authorities to examine the
difficulties and adopt measures to assist FDI projects in order to boost FDI
attraction and disbursement rates for the rest of 2009.-Enditem