VIETNAM ATTRACTS NEARLY 5 BILLION USD OF FDI IN TWO MONTHS

Foreign investors have poured nearly 5 billion USD in Vietnam so far this year, equivalent to 91.5 percent of that in the same time last year, reported the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

As of February 20, 183 new projects had been licenced, a rise of 45.2 percent year on year, with their combined capital totaling 631.8 million USD, down 80.9 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, nearly 3.6 billion USD was added into 142 underway projects, over 2.2 times than that in the same period last year. Foreign investors also injected 769.6 million USD into share purchase deals, up 41.7 percent.

At the same time, 2.68 billion USD of foreign investment had been disbursed in the period, a year-on-year rise of 7.2 percent.

FDI was poured in 17 out of the 21 economic sectors, with the highest amount on processing-manufacturing sector at 3.13 billion USD. It was followed by real estate with nearly 1.52 billion USD, and science-technology and power production and distribution with 109.6 million USD and 60 million USD, respectively.

The agency said that 51 countries and territories have invested in Vietnam, led by Singapore with over 1.7 billion USD, accounting for 34.2 percent of the total FDI that Vietnam attracted in two months, and representing a rise of 59.3 percent year on year. China ranked second with 538 million USD.

Bac Ninh led the 63 localities nationwide in FDI attraction by luring over 1.3 billion USD, accounting for 26.5 percent of the total FDI in Vietnam and rising by nearly 7.6 times over the same period last year. With two large-scale projects, Thai Nguyen came second with nearly 924 million USD.

Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City attracted the highest number of new FDI projects.

The export revenue of the foreign-invested sector rose again in February to more than 41.9 billion USD after a slight drop in January.

Leaders of the agency advised ministries and sectors to strengthen trade promotion and diplomatic activities to make the full use of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Ageeement (EVIPA) that is expected to become effective soon, while improving their business and investment environment as well as human resources quality, and strengthening the connections between domestic firms and their foreign peers.

Source: VIR