HANOI – Vietnamese enterprises disbursed some US$950 million of overseas investment out of the total registered capital of US$2.12 billion in 2011, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) takes the leading position with US$347 million of investment capital transferred abroad, followed by the military-run mobile service operator Viettel with US$185 million.
Other top investors are Song Da Corporation, Vietnam Rubber Group, Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group and Green Indochina Development JSC with the respective outbound investment capital of US$161 million, US$134.6 million, US$39 million and US$23.7 million.
However, these figures are calculated from the reported data of such enterprises with multiple overseas investment projects, rather than the overall amount that businesses have invested abroad.
Therefore, the year 2011 witnessed a strong surge in outbound investment disbursement, given the cumulative disbursement worth some US$2.7 billion so far.
Speaking at a press briefing in Hanoi last Friday, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen The Phuong noted that a significant amount of overseas investment was realized locally rather than transferred abroad.
“The (State) groups and corporations reported a portion of the realized outbound investment capital was used to pay for Vietnamese contractors or buy local goods and services to transfer abroad for project deployment,” said Phuong. However, he warned investors using the State capital to be responsible and to strictly obey the regulations on the use of State capital.
The overseas investment of State economic groups and corporations used to be the hot topic at several forums, especially at the National Assembly, for concern about the lack of transparency and the loss of State capital since Vietnam is usually short of foreign currencies. The deputy minister said commercial banks had tightened foreign currency lending for enterprises to invest abroad.
“Enterprises should mobilize capital from overseas lenders instead of transferring the capital from Vietnam abroad,” the deputy minister suggested.
Still, the planning ministry’s report did not mention how much capital the State groups and corporations borrowed from foreign banks to invest outside Vietnam.
In 2011, the ministry approved 75 investment projects abroad in 26 nations and territories, with the total registered capital of US$2.12 billion, including fresh capital and additional capital in operational projects. Some large-scale projects include the Sesan 2 hydropower plant in Cambodia worth US$806 million, the telecom project invested by Viettel in Peru worth US$408 million, and the Sekong 3 hydropower project in Laos’ Sekong Province worth US$275.2 million.
As of now, there have been 627 overseas projects, worth US$10.8 billion in registered capital, invested in 55 nations and territories, mostly in Laos, Cambodia, Venezuela and Russia.
