The southern localities of Dong Nai, Binh Duong and HCM City have reported highly positive signs in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) this year.
The third quarter in particular has seen an increase in the number of new projects and investments, officials from these localities say.
Bo Ngoc Thu, director of the Dong Nai Department of Planning and Investment, said the province attracted a total FDI of US$1.063 billion in the first nine months of the year, including newly-registered projects and additional capital for existing ones. This marked a year-on-year increase of 45.6 per cent, he said.
Thu said, "The figures show that the investment environment in Dong Nai has improved and trade promotion activities have proven effective."
Most of the investors are from Japan, South Korea and Singapore. Japanese firms are investing in 17 new projects worth $510 million, accounting for 44 per cent of the total number of FDI projects and 83 per cent of newly registered capital.
The new projects are mainly located in industrial parks. Some of them will promote development of the supporting industry, for example, assembling or manufacturing machinery parts, healthcare equipment and cable and satellite TV production.
Disbursed capital in Dong Nai also increased to $850 million in the first nine months, twice as much as the same period last year, marking an increase of 6.25 per cent compared to this year's target.
Lu Thanh Phong, deputy director of the HCM City Department of Planning and Investment, said just in the third quarter of this year, 100 FDI projects were issued licenses, an increase of 9.89 per cent compared to the same period of last year.
Newly registered capital in the third quarter reached $199.42 million, an increase of 70.6 per cent over the same period last year.
In the first nine months of 2012, the city attracted 278 FDI projects, an increase of 3.35 per cent compared to the corresponding period of last year.
Phong said the countries bringing FDI capital into HCM City were mainly Japan, Singapore and the Philippines. For instance, Singapore has 44 projects worth nearly $242 million and Japan has 65 projects with a total investment capital of nearly $90 million.
The Binh Duong Department of Planning and Investment, meanwhile, said the FDI inflow into the province this year was mainly in the services and urban development sectors with several big investments including a $1.2 billion project by the Tokyu Corporation and a $95 million project by Aeon Viet Nam.
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