Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The inflowof foreign direct investment (FDI) pledged to Vietnam in the first five monthsof this year hit a four-year high of 16.74 billion USD, according to the ForeignInvestment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
The FDI inflow also represented ayearly increase of 69.1 percent, the FIA said, adding that FDI disbursementjumped to 7.3 billion USD in the period, up 7.8 percent year-on-year.
As many as 1,363 new projectswere licensed with total registered capital of 6.46 billion USD in the January– May period, up 38.7 percent against the same period last year, while 505existing projects were injected an additional 2.63 billion USD, up 5.5 percentyear-on-year.
During this period, 3,160 projects had 7.65 billion USD in capital contributedby foreign investors, 2.8 times higher than the figure of the same periodlast year and accounting for 45.7 percent of total registered capital.
Among 19 fields and sectors receiving capital from foreign investors,manufacturing and processing led with 10.5 billion USD, accounting for 72 percentof the total FDI. Real estate came next with 1.1 billion USD, or 7.5 percent,followed by retail and wholesale with 742.7 million USD or 5 percent.
Hong Kong was Vietnam’s largest source of FDI in the five-month period with5.08 billion USD, accounting for 30.4 percent of total investment, thanks toHong Kong’s Beerco Limited spending 3.85 billion USD on a stake in VietnamBeverage Co Ltd.
The Republic of Korea and Singaporewere the runners-up with 2.62 billion USD or 15.7 percent and 2.09 billionUSD or 12.5 percent, respectively. China claimed fourth place with 2.02 billionUSD, followed by Japan with 1.52 billion USD.
The capital city of Hanoiretained its crown as the most attractive destination for foreign investorswith 4.79 billion USD, making up 28.6 percent of thenation’s total investment in the period as the city has been making efforts tostreamline investment procedures.
The southern largest economic hubof Ho Chi Minh City ranked second with 2.78 billion USD or 16.6 percent oftotal FDI registered in the country, followed by its neighbour Binh Duong province,with 1.25 billion USD or 7.4 percent of the total.
From January to May, theforeign-invested sector generated $70.4 billion from exports, a 5 percentyear-on-year increase and accounting for 70 percent of the country’s totalexport turnover.
By May 20, the country is home to28,632 valid FDI projects with total registered capital of 350.5 billion USD.The total disbursed capital reached 198.7 billion USD, equivalent to 56.7percent of the total committed investment.
Also according to the FIA, Vietnamesefirms poured nearly 183 million USD into 69 projects abroad in the period.
Most of their overseas investmentfocused on science and technology (82 million USD), the banking sector (37 millionUSD) and the information and communication sector (31 millionUSD).
During the period, Spain, the USand Cambodia attracted the largest shares of Vietnamese investment with 60million USD, 44 million USD and 38 million USD, respectively.-VNA
VNA
