NEWLY-REGISTERED FDI CAPITAL IN FIRST FOUR MONTHS UP 25 PER CENT ON-YEAR

Newly-registered foreign direct investment (FDI) has risen significantly over the previous year with the average newly- and additionally-registered capital for a project also increasing.

The total newly-registered and added capital, as well as capital contributions and share purchases in the first four months of the year amounted to $12.25 billion (as of April 20), equalling 99.3 per cent on-year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Investment Agency.

Of these, 451 projects (down 54.2 per cent on-year) received a new investment certificate, with the total registered capital of nearly $8.5 billion (up 24.7 per cent on-year).

263 projects (down 21.5 per cent) asked to adjust capital with a total of over $2.7 billion (down 10.6 per cent on-year). "Because in April last year, there was a huge influx of capital expansion when Long Son Petrochemical Complex received $1.38 billion added capital," explained a representative of the Foreign Investment Agency.

"The scale of both newly- and additionally-registered projects has increased remarkably since last year, from $6.9 million in 2020 to $18.7 million per new project this year, and from $9.2 million per adjusted project in 2020 to $10.4 million this year," the representative added.

Additionally, capital contributions and share purchases also reported an on-year decrease in the first four months with 1,151 instances (down 64.1 per cent) and a total investment of $1 billion (down 57.8 per cent).

In the first four months, Singapore led among the 67 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with a total investment of $4.8 billion, making up 39.6 per cent of the total investment. Japan ranked second with a total investment of $2.5 billion (20.5 per cent) while South Korea ranked third with $1.5 billion (12.1 per cent), followed by China, Hong Kong, and the US.

As of April 20, 2021, foreign-invested projects have disbursed $5.5 billion, a rise of 6.8 per cent on-year, which reflects that the FDI sector has recovered well after the pandemic.

The export turnover of the sector increased sharply during the period, reaching $80.6 billion, up 38.7 per cent on-year including crude oil, and $80.1 billion excluding crude oil, up 38.7 and 39.2 per cent on-year, respectively, equivalent to around 78 per cent of the country's total export turnover.

The import turnover of the FDI sector is estimated at $66.2 billion, up 32.8 per cent on-year, and capturing 65.2 per cent of the country's total import turnover. In the first four months, the trade surplus of the sector is estimated at $14.4 billion (including crude oil), and $13.9 billion (excluding crude oil). This has offset the trade deficit of $12.5 billion of local businesses, resulting in an overall trade surplus of $1.9 billion.

Source: VIR