FDI FLOW BOUNCES BACK

So far this year, foreign direct investment (FDI) channeled into Vietnam neared 8.9 billion USD, with new capital surging after a slight decrease in the first three months.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency (FIA), there were 750 new projects granted investment licences worth over 4.1 billion USD, up 65.2 per cent and 11.1 per cent annually, respectively.

A total of 386 projects had their capital added for a total of 1.66 billion USD, a 19.5 per cent increase in quantity and reduction of 68.6 per cent in value against the same period last year. The growth, despite the associated decrease, reflected investors’ confidence in Vietnam’s business climate and decisions to expand their existing projects.

Also in the four months, foreign investors did 1,044 transactions of capital contribution and share purchases, with their contributed capital exceeding 3.1 billion USD, up 70.4 per cent year-on-year. They invested in 18 economic sectors, mostly in processing and manufacturing with over 5.1 billion USD or 57.8 per cent of their total investment.

The number of countries and territories investing in Vietnam in the period amounted to 77. Singapore took the lead by pouring close to 2.2 billion USD in the market, followed by Japan with nearly 2 billion USD and China with 752 million USD.

Hanoi was the top FDI investment destination with more than 1.1 billion USD. Bac Giang came second, followed by Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai.

The FIA said although exports of the FDI sector decreased, it still offset the trade deficit of nearly 8.3 billion USD of the domestic business sector and helped the country gain a trade surplus of about 5.2 billion USD in the first months of the year.

Source: VIR