Vietnamese companies disbursed $1.8 billion out of total pledged $8 billion in 50 countries and territories worldwide by end-September.
The Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment says local enterprises have transferred a total of $1.79 billion abroad but profit repatriated was $39 million and rate of return on overseas investments was just 0.46%.
A recent report showed that five state-run groups, namely PetroVietnam, Vinacomin, Viettel, Song Da Holding Corp and Vietnam Rubber Corp, transferred a combined of $1.24 billion, but they gained little profits.
The low rate of return has raised concerns about the efficiency of overseas investment, an anonymous expert said, adding that the government and the companies should consider financial efficiency before starting a project.
Another official from the Ministry of Finance says local firms should invest overseas only if the investment offers higher profits than at home, if the project can provide materials that cannot be found in Vietnam, or if there is a supply shortage of those materials in the country.
Otherwise, enterprises should not invest abroad, especially in the current situation when local companies are short of capital.
There has been an imbalance between cash outflow and inflow from overseas projects. With a large amount of capital expected to go out of Vietnam, the capital source for local investment will certainly be affected and there will put pressure on national balance of payment.
This will affect directly the country's macroeconomic balance, and therefore, proper measures are necessary to harmonize overseas and local investments, Bui Quoc Trung, FIA deputy director said.
The outbound projects focused on the fields of mining; agriculture, forestry, seafood; entertainment activities; power, gas, water and conditioner production and distribution and manufacturing.
Laos remained the most attractive destination for Vietnamese investors with 178 projects with the whole pledged $3.2 billion, followed by Russian with $1.7 billion and Cambodia with $1.3 billion. (Vietnam Economic Times, VNS)
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