Foreign investors in Viet Nam disbursed a total of US$9.85 billion year to July 20, representing an increase of 9 per cent from a year earlier, the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment has said.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) commitments soared 5 per cent on-year to $22.94 billion in the seven-month period. Of the amount, fresh approvals increased 2 per cent to $13.2 billion while investors added $4.95 billion to existing projects or equivalent to 84 per cent of last year’s corresponding period.

Notably, overseas players spent $4.79 billion on acquiring shares in Vietnamese companies, shooting up 54 per cent on-year.

Manufacturing and processing continued to be the most appealing sector by attracting $9.63 billion from January to July, accounting for 42 per cent of the total investment inflow. It was followed by real estate trading with $5.6 billion (25 per cent) and retail and wholesale with $1.7 billion (7 per cent).

Japan remained the leading foreign investor by pouring $6.88 billion into Viet Nam during the period, making up nearly 30 per cent of the total FDI registered in the country. South Korea ranked second with $5.46 billion (24 per cent), while Singapore came next with $2.73 billion (12 per cent).

According to the FIA, foreign investors were present in 59 cities and provinces. Of them, the capital lured the largest share $6.17 billion, accounting for 27 per cent. The southern economic hub of HCM City and the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau were runners-up with $4.12 billion (18 per cent) and $2.15 billion (9.5 per cent).

From January-July, foreign-invested businesses gained a trade surplus of approximately $18.7 billion with exports topping $95.13 billion, 15 per cent higher than the same period last year, and imports hitting $76.46 billion, up 9 per cent on-year.

As of July 20, the country had 26,210 foreign-invested projects with total registered capital of $333 billion, and over half of the FDI had been disbursed, the agency noted.

Overseas investments

During the period, Vietnamese businesses invested $280 million into 102 projects aboard, statistics from FIA also revealed.

As much as $238 million was pumped into 81 new overseas projects, while the rest was earmarked for 21 existing ones.

As per the data, finance banking caught the most interest from the Vietnamese investors, accounting for 38 per cent of their total investments, or $110 million.

Agro-forestry-fisheries came next with $64 million (23 per cent), following by manufacturing and processing with $46 million (16 per cent).

Vietnamese businesses invested in 32 countries and territories. Among them, Laos lured the lion’s share of Vietnamese investments, with 30 per cent. Other countries included Australia, Slovakia, Cuba, Cambodia and Myanmar. — VNS