Foreign investment up 109 pct in HCM City
HCM City’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the first quarter of the year rose 109 percent year on year, showing investors’ growing confidence in the local economy.
According to the city's Department of Planning and Investment, 78 FDI projects with a total investment of nearly US$160 million were licensed in the past three months.
The profitable operation of companies in the city's Export Processing Zones and Industrial Parks, especially foreign-invested enterprises, is behind the rising investment trend, said Nguyen Tan Dinh, deputy head of the HCM City Export Processing Zone Authority (HEPZA).
This year, Dinh said that HEPZA will take measures to attract even more investment to the city's EPZ and IPs.
Focus will be on hi-tech industries that have high added value: mechanics, electronics/information technology, chemicals, and food and foodstuff processing.
In addition, the city will map out a plan to build an industrial area for support industries within the Dong Nam Industrial Park, and is seeking Japanese investment for infrastructure construction.
Promotion campaigns in other countries will also be held to attract investment to local IPs.
The HCM City Trade and Investment Promotion Centre, the Department of Planning and Investment, and the IP and EPZ Infrastructure Development Company will organise investment promotions in Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, the US and Canada.
According to HEPZA, the city's EPZs and IPs in the first quarter mobilised a total investment of US$144.5 million, up by 21.4 percent compared with the same period last year. Of the total, US$122.65 million was worth of FDI capital.