Foreign investors inject capital into 16 out of 21 economic sectors. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam has attracted more than 4.29 billion USD in foreigndirect investment (FDI) in the first two months of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 38.6%, according to the Ministry of Industryand Trade (MoIT)’s Foreign Trade Agency.

During the period, 405 new projects with total registered capital of 3.6billion USD were granted investment certificates, up 55.2% in volumeand doubling the value recorded in the same time last year.

Meanwhile, 159 projects had their capital adjusted, with a total amount of 442.1million USD, up 19.5% and down 17.4% year-on-year, respectively.

Capital contributions and share purchases fell 68% year-on-year to 255.4million USD.

As much as 2.8 billion USD in FDI was disbursed in the two months, expanding9.8% from the same time of 2023.

According to the MoIT, most of the capital was funneled into cities andprovinces with sound infrastructure, stable human resources, great efforts to improveadministrative procedures and active engagement in investment promotion events.

Hanoi, Quang Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Bac Ninh, Dong Nai, BacGiang, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong and Hung Yen topped the country in terms of FDI attraction,the Foreign Trade Agency said, elaborating the ten localities made up a lionshare of 81.7% of the foreign capital in the period.

The capital city of Hanoi led all localities in FDI attraction with nearly 914.4 millionUSD, up 24.4 times against the same period in 2023.

Among 48 countries and territories with investment in Vietnam during the January-February period, Singapore was the biggest investor as it poured more than2.08 billion USD into the country, followed by Hong Kong (China), Japan andChina.

The investors injected capital into 16 out of 21 economic sectors, of which theprocessing and manufacturing industry took the lead withtotal investment of nearly 2.54 billion USD. It was followed by the realty sector(1.41 billion USD), whole andretail sale (125.2 million USD) and scientific and technological activities(nearly 76.4 million USD).

In the two-month period, the foreign-invested sector posted a trade surplus ofmore than 8.6 billion USD (excluding cruid oil), helping compensate thedomestic sector’s trade deficit of 4.63 billion USD.

꧒ As of February 2024, the country had 39,553 valid projects with totalregistered capital of 473.1 billion USD. Nearly 300 billion USD has beendisbursed so far./.