Aggregate foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first
two months of 2009 has hit US$5.328 billion - equal to just 70 percent
of the figure for the same period last year, according to an initial
report from the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI).


In the reviewed period, local authorities licensed 67
new projects with a registered capital of more than US$1.5 billion,
said the report that was based on statistics from seven provinces and
cities nationwide through February 20, including Hanoi, HCM City, Binh
Duong and Danang.


These figures represent a 65 percent and 69 percent decrease respectively over the same period last year.


Despite an annual drop of 80 percent in the number of
projects that received additional capital, their total capital was
increased by 41 percent from US$2.694 billion (last year) to US$3.815
billion (this year).


The MPI said the current global economic crisis has
had a dramatic impact on FDI attraction in the reviewed provinces and
cities in early 2009. For example, Hanoi granted licences to only 30
FDI projects with a total registered investment of roughly US$40
million, which is equivalent to seven percent of the figure for the
same period last year. The central coastal city of Danang licensed only
one project, which is capitalized at US$2.3 million.


The Foreign Investment Agency under the MPI recently
sent a dispatch to the centrally run provinces and cities, asking them
to clearly point out the difficulties faced by their FDI projects.