Foreign investments in Viet Nam reach $714 million in 1st quarter
(03/30/2004 -- 19:14GMT+7)
Ha Noi, March 30 (VNA)- Viet Nam granted licenses to 120 foreign-invested projects with a combined registered investment of 420 million USD in the first three months of the year, said the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
The number of projects decreased 37 percent year on year, but the amount of investments rose by 11 percent, the MPI added.
As many as 29 projects were also granted licenses for 294.6 million USD in additional investments, representing a year on year increase of 51 percent. This brings to 714.6 million USD the total foreign direct investments licensed in the first quarter, or a 25 percent increase year on year.
The FDI projects' first quarter revenues post at 3.9 billion USD, including 1.7 billion USD from exports, representing growth rates of 18 percent and 26 percent, respectively.
The foreign - invested sector has generated over 20,000 jobs in the first quarter, bringing to 680,000 the gross employment in the sector by the end of March.
Viet Nam expected to draw 3.3 billion USD in FDI for the whole 2004, of them an estimated 2.75 billion USD will be disbursed.--
