VINACHEM

The agency said the significant disbursement was useful as it helped the country offset its trade deficit that hit $8.15 billion in the first eight months of the year.

FDI pledges for new projects also increased in capital over the same period. With 125 projects worth nearly $2.5 billion licensed in August, the country granted licences to 658 FDI projects totalling nearly $10.8 billion, up 41 per cent over the same period last year.

However, capital injection into existing projects in January-August reached only $787 million, decreasing sharply from the same period last year.

Production of foreign invested enterprises in the first eight months of the year also recovered well. Among newly-licensed projects, processing and manufacturing industries accounted for the most with roughly 62 projects worth more than $3.66 billion. The electricity and real estate sectors followed in terms of capital with $2.9 billion and $2.3 billion, respectively.

Import spending by foreign enterprises was estimated to reach $22.37 billion by the end of August, jumping nearly 43.6 per cent over the same period last year.

Similarly, export turnover of foreign enterprises reached $23.96 billion, increasing 26.6 per cent over the same period last year.

The MPI expects the country's FDI inflow this year to increase by 10 per cent over last year's figure, to between $10 billion and $11 billion, while FDI pledges are forecast to hit $22-25 billion.

However, to improve FDI project quality, the ministry has drafted a new decree to replace the current Government Decree 108/2006/ND-CP which outlines the implementation of the Investment Law.

Under the new decree, scheduled to take effect later this year, all FDI projects must be in line with the Government's development master plan before being licensed.

It also requested foreign investors to regularly report the implementation pace of their projects to concerned agencies, said Planning and Investment deputy minister Nguyen Bich Dat.

(Source:VNS)