Chou Vichith (seated left), secretary of state at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, signs a double taxation agreement with Vietnamese Vice Minister of Finance Tran Xuan Ha in Hanoi in April. A recent report showed that the Kingdom was the second largest recipient of foreign investment from that country. facebook
The Kingdom ranked second in the first half of the year for overseas Vietnamese investments, receiving about $32 million of the total $263 million outflow from the eastern neighbour.
The Vietnamese General Statistics Office (GSO) said from January to June this year, that country’s businesses invested a total of $263 million in 27 nations.
Laos ranked first with 31.9 percent of the total while Cambodia had 12.3 percent.
Lim Heng, vice president of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce (CCC), said Wednesday that Vietnamese investments in the Kingdom mostly went into agriculture, retail businesses and the financial sector.
Heng observed that inflows from Vietnam have been showing slower growth over the past few years as those from China have been taking off fast.
“Receiving more foreign direct investment (FDI) to our country will help create jobs and diversify our economy,” he said, adding that Cambodia has been improving its investment environment, so FDI should grow in time.
The Vietnamese Embassy could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
Finance sector is king
According to the Vietnamese GSO, during the first half of this year, finance and banking took the largest share of Vietnam’s overseas investments, hitting $106.2 million.
The agricultural, forestry and seafood sectors came in second, collectively, with $63.79 million, while processing and manufacturing industries rounded out the top three spots, netting a total of $48.9 million.
