Disbursement of foreign investment reached $400 million during the first month of this year, a decrease of 4.8 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
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| Workers of Japan-based Juky Ltd Vietnam assemble sewing machines in Tan Thuan Processing Zone, HCM City. |
Meanwhile, five existing foreign-invested projects were allowed to increase their levels of capital by $7.8 million during the period, the ministry said.
The new additions have brought total foreign direct investment (FDI) registered during January to $37.3 million, down by 97.5 percent against the same period a year ago, it said.
"We cannot call it a good start for this year. We have to re-organise all opportunities and challenges and draw up effective measures to attract more investment," said Phan Huu Thang, the director of the University of Economics and Business's Centre for Foreign Investment Studies.
"Without such measures, we will fail to meet the target of $15-16 billion set for this year," Thang said. Of this amount, the ministry expects $10-11billion to be disbursed this year.
Last year, Vietnam attracted $19.7 billion in FDI and disbursed $11 billion.
France was the leading source of foreign investment, with $10 million, accounting for 34 percent of the country's newly registered capital. It was followed by Japan ($8.1 million), South Korea ($5.4 million) and Singapore ($2 million).
During the month, the processing and manufacturing sector attracted the largest amount of FDI with $27.1 million, followed by the construction sector with $8.4 million.
The Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, Nguyen The Phuong, said that attracting FDI this year would be focused on quality rather than quantity.
He said Vietnam would welcome projects in fields such as green technology, high-tech industry and human resources, adding that the country would limit investment in non-manufacturing sectors such as tourism and services.
The Deputy Minister said there would be heavy scrutiny of sectors increasing imports and projects using out-of-date technologies that harmed the environment.