A part of Ha Noi. The influx of foreign investment into the capital city hit more than $140 million in the first month of this year. — Photo phapluatdansinh.vn

Ha Noi licensed 68 new foreign-invested projects worth US$30.2 million in January, the capital's Department of Planning and Investment has announced.

In the first month of this year, the city also approved seven existing projects to raise their investment capital by $71.4 million. It also granted permission to foreign investors to spend nearly $40 million to acquire shares in domestic firms in the month.

Last year, Ha Noi led the nation in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction, luring $8.45 billion, the highest amount in the last decade while the disbursed amount hit $6.5 billion, or 74 per cent of total registered capital, the highest disbursement rate so far.

Foreign-invested businesses also earned $6.8 billion in exports in 2019, making up 40.7 per cent of the city's total export turnover and up 5.6 per cent year-on-year.

The positive performance was attributable to the city's efforts to carry out administrative reform, improve the business and investment environment, and support enterprises.

The department's director Nguyen Manh Quyen said the city is striving to attract between $35 billion and $45 billion in foreign investment by the end of this year.

The city would continue to encourage foreign investment in priority fields with high added value, such as construction, smart city, IT, high-quality services, hi-tech farming and finance-banking, among others, he said. — VNS