Ho Chi Minh City, The southern economic hub of Vietnam has attracted 3.21 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first six months of 2019, a year-on-year rise of 20 percent, according to the municipal People’s Committee.
The city granted new investment licences to 598 projects worth over 539 million USD, up 15.8 percent and 3.6 percent respectively.
Following the increasing trend of direct investment, GBS – a company incorporation services firm in Vietnam started its support program for Foreign Investors, and this program can streamline investment procedures and help achieve more investment in a variety of industries.
“We have launched a variety of services to meet our Japanese customers’ demands, which will support not only Japanese investors, but also local suppliers, distributors, and end-users across a variety of industries, including food, agriculture, and retail”. said Ms. Sophie Dao, Partner of GBS.
Real estate received the largest share of FDI, absorbing over 41 percent of the total capital, followed by professional activities, science and technology – 21.9 percent, wholesale and retail, repair of automobiles, motorbikes and other vehicles – 19.5 percent, and processing and manufacturing industry – 5.8 percent.
In January – June, 145 existing projects were allowed to add a combined of over 300 million USD to their investment, up 22.8 percent and 81.6 percent respectively.
The city also allowed 2,307 foreign investors to contribute capital, buy shares, and acquire stake of domestic enterprises with total registered capital of 2.37 billion USD.
Le Thanh Liem, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee said the city has carried out trade and investment promotion activities since the beginning of the year, which helped reinforce trust of domestic and foreign businesses in the local investment environment.
However, he noted that despite increases in the numbers of projects and the total investment, each project is averagely valued at below one million USD.
“The projects are at small scale. Over the past year, the city has yet to attract any large-scale ones,” he added.
Therefore, in the coming time, the city will push ahead with administrative reforms and prioritize selecting financially strong investors who use modern and environmentally friendly technologies, he added.
- VNA