Over US$8.3 billion pumped into industrial and economic zones

• Businesses advised to take better advantage of FTA benefits
• Plan to tax business households causes controversy
• Businesses advised to obey rules of origin to boost exports to Asia

over US$5.3 billion.

The ministry’s Department for Economic Zone Management reported that industrial and economic zones throughout the country had 560 new foreign direct investment (FDI) projects registered in 2018. 

 This added up to a total value of over US$5.3 billion while more than US$3 billion was added to nearly 500 FDI projects operating within the zones.

By 2018, industrial and economic zones had attracted 7,500 domestically-invested projects with a combined registered capital of some VND970 trillion (US$42.17 billion).

This is in addition to around 8,000 FDI projects with a total value of more than US$145 billion.

The occupancy rate of operating industrial and economic zones is currently over 73%.

According to the department, Vietnam now has 326 industrial parks with a total land mass of 93,000 hectares. Of these, 250 are already in operation and 76 have undergone ground clearance.

By 2018, 17 coastal economic zones had been founded with a combined inland and water area reaching over 845,000 hectares.