Vietnam's foreign investment hits record

Foreign direct investment pledged for Vietnam in the first seven months of the year has hit a record $45.3 billion, up 373 percent from the same period a year ago and surpassing the record of $21.3 billion for all of 2007, the government said Tuesday.

Some 654 new projects with a total investment of $44.5 billion were granted licenses, and an additional $788.6 million from 188 existing projects was also licensed in the first seven months, according to the General Statistics Office, or GSO.

Taiwan tops the list with a total pledged investment of $8.4 billion, it said. Japan is ranked second with $7.2 billion. Malaysia was third with $5.1 billion.

The GSO said 381 projects with a pledged investment of $21.5 billion were in industry and 243 projects with an investment of $22.8 billion were in the service sector.

The top foreign direct investment projects in the first seven months include Taiwanese Formosa Group's $7.9 billion steel plant; the $6.2 billion refinery joint venture plant between PetroVietnam and companies from Japan and Kuwait; and a $4.3 billion project to develop a new city in central Vietnam by a Brunei company, according to the Vietnam Economic Times.

The disbursed foreign direct investment in the first seven months has reached $6 billion, up 43 percent against the same period last year, the GSO said.

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