Foreign direct investment (FDI) pledged to Vietnam in the first five months of this year hit a four-year high of USD16.74 billion, a Foreign Investment Agency report has shown.
The FDI inflow also represented a yearly increase of 69 percent, the report said, adding that FDI disbursement jumped to USD 7.3 billion in the period, up 8 percent year-on-year.
More than 1,360 new projects were licensed with total registered capital of USD 6.46 billion in January - May, surging 38 percent against the same period last year, while 505 existing projects were injected an additional USD 2.63 billion, up 6 percent year-on-year.
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| A part of Hanoi - the capital city leads in FDI attraction in the first five months of 2019__Photo: Internet |
During this period, 3,160 projects had USD 7.65 billion in capital contributed by foreign investors, nearly triple the figure of the same period last year and accounting for 46 percent of total registered capital.
Among 19 fields and sectors receiving capital from foreign investors, manufacturing and processing led with USD12 billion, accounting for 72 percent of total FDI. Real estate came next with USD1.13 billion, or 8 percent, followed by retail and wholesale with USD 864 million or 5 percent.
Hong Kong was Vietnam’s largest source of FDI in the five-month period with nearly USD 5.1 billion, accounting for 30 percent of total investment, thanks to Hong Kong’s Beerco Limited spending USD 3.85 billion on a stake in Vietnam Beverage Co Ltd.
South Korea and Singapore were the runners-up with USD 2.62 billion or 16 percent and USD 2.1 billion or 13 percent, respectively. Mainland China claimed fourth place with more than USD 2 billion, followed by Japan with USD 1.52 billion.
Hanoi retained its crown as the most attractive destination for foreign investors with USD 4.8 billion, making up 29 percent of the nation’s total investment in the period as the city has been making efforts to streamline investment procedures.
From now to the year’s end, the city will focus on investment promotion through conferences and meetings with investors, while speeding up the licensing of projects and developing infrastructure system to lure investors, online newspaper vietnamplus.vn cited local authorities as saying.
The city will also focus on attracting FDI into information technology, innovation, biotechnology, tourism beside to education-training, healthcare, logistics, finance and research and development.
The southern economic hub Ho Chi Minh City ranked second with USD 2.8 billion or 17 percent of total FDI registered in the country, followed by its neighbor Binh Duong Province, with more than USD 1.2 billion or 7 percent of the total.
From January to May, the foreign-invested sector generated USD 70.4 billion from exports, a 5 per cent year-on-year increase and accounting for 70 percent of the country’s total export turnover.
The sector’s import turnover in the period rose by 7 percent compared to the same period last year to USD 53 billion. That resulted in a trade surplus of more than USD 12.7 billion in the five months.
Overseas investment
The FIA also said in its report that Vietnamese firms poured nearly USD 183 million into 69 projects abroad in the period.
Most of their overseas investment focused on science and technology (USD 82 million), the banking sector (USD 37 million) and the information and communication sector (USD 31 million).
During the period, Spain, the US and Cambodia attracted the largest shares of Vietnamese investment with USD 60 million, USD 44 million and USD 38 million, respectively.- (VNS/VLLF)
