Overall investments saw a year-on-year increase of 13 projects, but also a decrease of 30 per cent in total registered capital during the same period. — Photo vneconomy

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Japanese investment has temporarily fallen in the first quarter due to difficulties in the Japanese economy, said an official of the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).

The agency, under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said total Japanese investment capital in the first three months reached some US$295 million for 81 existing and new projects.

Overall investments saw a year-on-year increase of 13 projects, but also a decrease of 30 per cent in total registered capital during the same period.

Dang Xuan Quang, deputy head of FIA, noted that the reduction in investment capital to Viet Nam would be temporary due to lower growth rates in the Japanese economy during the second half of last year, along with the depreciation of the Yen. For the long term, however, Japanese investors are expected to continue investing in other countries.

Further, Fuji Xerox President Tadahito Yamamoto said their factory in Viet Nam remains one of the leading manufacturing facilities for Xerox in the world, reported vnexpress.net, a local online newspaper.

Investors remain attracted to Viet Nam because of low labour costs and the many government investment incentives for foreign investors, he said.

Meanwhile, Japan's IHI group, specialising in investment to develop infrastructure, had allocated $34 million to open a factory in Hai Phong and begin operations in the first quarter of this year.

Therefore, a representative of FIA said Viet Nam was still an attractive destination for Japanese investors, as 60 per cent of Japanese investors in Viet Nam have remained profitable, while 70 per cent of Japanese export goods producers and processors have also remained profitable.

The FIA reported in the first quarter of this year, that of 33 countries the Japanese were the third largest investors in Viet Nam, after South Korea and British Virgin Islands – who were first and second.

During the first three months of 2015, Viet Nam attracted $1.84 billion in foreign investment, a reduction of 44.9 per cent against the same period last year, though disbursement of foreign investments in Viet Nam had a year-on-year increase of 7 per cent to $3.05 billion. — VNS