Foreign direct investment (FDI) commitments in the first eight months totaled US$24.35 billion, up 4.2 per cent year-on-year, according to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).
During the reviewed period, FDI disbursement also saw a positive increase of 9.2 per cent to $11.25 billion, the FIA, which is under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, has said.
Up to 1,918 new projects were granted licences with total registered investment capital of $13.48 billion between January and August, up 0.2 per cent from the same period last year, while 736 operating projects were injected with an additional $5.58 billion, equivalent to 87.2 per cent of last year’s corresponding period.
Notably, overseas players spent $5.28 billion on acquiring shares in Vietnamese companies in the first eight months, shooting up 51 per cent year-on-year.
Among the largest-scale projects were the Japanese Sumitomo Corporation’s smart city project in Ha Noi’s Dong Anh District, capitalised at over $4.13 billion; a $1.2-billion polypropylene manufacturing plant, financed by South Korean Hyosung Corporation in Ba Ria - Vung Tau and the Singapore-invested Laguna hospitality project with additional funds of $1.12 billion. Others included the $600-million Lotte Mall Hanoi project which will include a hotel, apartment, office, and trade centre complex and the LG Innotek Hai Phong facility with additional capital of $501 million for manufacturing camera modules.
Manufacturing and processing remained the most appealing sector by attracting $10.72 billion in eight months, accounting for 44 per cent of the total investment inflow. It was followed by real estate trading with $5.9 billion (24.2 per cent) and retail and wholesale with $1.87 billion (8 per cent).
Japan continued to be Viet Nam’s leading source of foreign investment with $7 billion, making up nearly 30 per cent of the country’s total FDI. South Korea ranked second with $5.16 billion (21.2 per cent), while Singapore came next with $3.47 billion (14 per cent).
In the first eight months, the capital city lured the largest share of registered capital with $5.93 billion, or 24.4 per cent of total investment. It was followed by HCM City with $4.42 billion or 18.2 per cent of total investment and the southern province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau with $2.17 billion, accounting for 9 per cent of total investment.
From January-August, foreign-invested businesses gained a trade surplus of approximately $17.9 billion with exports topping $110.3 billion, 14 per cent higher than the same period last year, and imports hitting $90.8 billion, up 11.4 per cent on-year.
As of August 20, the country had 26,438 foreign-invested projects with total registered capital of $333.83 billion, and over half of the FDI had been disbursed, the agency noted.
Overseas investments
During the eight-month period, Vietnamese businesses pumped $314 million into 115 projects aboard, statistics from FIA also revealed.
As much as $271 million was pumped into 93 new overseas projects, while the rest was earmarked for 22 existing ones.
As per the data, finance-banking attracted the most interest from Vietnamese investors, accounting for 34 per cent of their total investments, or $106 million.
Agro-forestry-fisheries came next with $64 million (20.3 per cent), followed by manufacturing and processing with $46 million (15 per cent).
Vietnamese businesses invested in 29 countries and territories. Among them, Laos lured the lion’s share of Vietnamese investments, with 31 per cent. Australia and Slovakia came second and third with 12 per cent and 11.4 per cent, respectively. Other countries included Cuba, Cambodia and Myanmar.— VNS