Overseas investment takes a dive
Overseas investment has fallen by 30 percent compared to the first ten months of last year, despite new investment licences having been granted for nearly 70 projects by the end of October 2012.
According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the newly-licensed project account for more than US$1.3 billion in registered capital, with three more being approved compared to 2011.
Despite this, overall registered investment capital has dropped by US$664 million, the ministry said.
New overseas investment mostly went into agriculture, wholesale and retail, processing and designing, mineral exploration, food and services sectors, it noted.
During the period, capital for 14 operating projects were raised to US$96 million.
As of October, Vietnamese businesses have pumped US$15 billion into 737 overseas projects. The wholesale and retail sectors attracted the highest number of projects at 133, followed by processing and designing (122 projects), agro-forestry-fishery (98 projects) and mining (96 projects).
In terms of investment, Laos remained the most attractive destination for Vietnamese businesses, with 222 projects as of September. Cambodia ranked second with 127 projects, following by the US, Singapore and the Republic of Korea.