| FDI to HCMC surges 70% | |
Foreign direct investment (FDI) into HCMC in the January-July period soared a staggering 70% year-on-year while that of the whole country dropped considerably in the past seven months, the HCMC Department of Planning and Investment said. In the period, the city issued licenses to some 175 FDI projects with total fresh capital of over US$1.73 billion, up over 57% against last year. The past seven months also saw the city attract over US$2 billion of additional capital for 61 operational projects, pushing the total pledged capital to US$3.73 billion, or 70% higher than that in the year-ago period. Notably, the processing and manufacturing industries topped the list of foreign investment within the past seven year, accounting for approximately 62% of the total pledged capital of HCMC via 25 licensed investment projects. Though FDI in the property sector went down year-on-year, it still made up 19% of the new total investment in this year’s past seven months, with US$334 million in seven licensed projects. The sectors of wholesale and retail and automobile repair service attracted 47 investment projects but attained just US$141 million of pledged capital while the education and training sector had only one project worth US$200,000. Also according to the Department of Planning and Investment, FDI mainly flowed into industrial and processing zones in HCMC with US$1.2 billion through 10 newly-licensed projects. The Management Authority for Southern Development (MASD) had 12 newly-licensed projects in this period with total registered investment of over US$202 million while Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) had only two projects worth US$27.3 million. Meanwhile, Thu Thiem Management Authority and Tay Bac – Cu Chi Urban Management Authority obtained no project in the past seven months. | |
| SGT |
