Foreign direct investment (FDI) commitments in the first ten months totaled US$27.9 billion, down 1.2 per cent year-on-year, but disbursements rose by 6.3 per cent to $15.1 billion, as per official data.

Nearly 2,500 new projects were granted licences with a total investment capital of $15 billion between January and October, equivalent to 92.2 per cent of the corresponding period last year, while 954 existing projects injected an additional $6.5 billion, a yearly decline of 10 per cent.

During the period, 5,342 projects had $6.3 billion in capital contributed by foreign investors, up 35 per cent year-on-year, statistics from the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) revealed.

The biggest-ticket projects included the Japan-invested smart city in the capital’s Dong Anh District worth over $4.13 billion; the $1.2-billion polypropylene manufacturing plant financed by South Korean Hyosung Corporation in southern Ba Ria - Vung Tau; and the Laguna hospitality project with additional funds of $1.12 billion from Singaporean investors.

Others were the $600-million Lotte Mall Hanoi project that includes a hotel, apartments, offices, and trade centre complex and the LG Innotek Hai Phong facility with additional capital of $501 million for manufacturing camera modules.

Foreign investors pumped their investments in 18 fields and sectors in the ten months through October. Of which, manufacturing and processing remained the most attractive area with $13.2 billion, accounting for 48 per cent of total capital approvals. Real estate was the second most heavily invested, with $5.7 billion, or 20.5 per cent of total registered capital, followed by retail and wholesale with $2.3 billion or 8.5 per cent.

The data also shows that Japan kept its crown as Viet Nam’s leading source of FDI with $7.6 billion in the ten month period, accounting for 28 per cent of total investment. South Korea came second with $6.5 billion or 24 per cent, while Singapore ranked third with $3.9 billion or 14 per cent.

The capital city attracted the lion’s share of FDI with $6.15 billion, making up 22 per cent of the nation’s total investment, followed by HCM City with $4.6 billion or 17 per cent of the total investment, and the southern province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau with $2.4 billion or 9 per cent.

From January-October, foreign-invested businesses generated $143 billion from exports, a hike of 72 per cent over the same period last year while their imports hit $116.3 billion, surging 12 per cent year-on-year. That had resulted in a trade surplus of $27.1 billion.

As of October 20, the country had 26,876 valid foreign-invested projects capitalised at $336 billion, and over half of the FDI had been disbursed, the agency said, adding that manufacturing and processing remained the most attractive sector to foreign investors with $193 billion, followed by property ($57 billion) and production and distribution of electricity, gas, and water, and air conditioning ($22.8 billion).

Meanwhile, according to FIA, Vietnamese businesses injected $345 million into 147 projects abroad during the reviewed period.

Of the sum, $297 million was pumped into 121 new overseas projects, while the rest was earmarked for 26 existing ones.

As per the data, finance-banking attracted the most interest from Vietnamese investors, accounting for 32 per cent of their total, or $106 million. Agro-forestry-fisheries came next with $69 million (20 per cent), followed by manufacturing and processing with $46 million (13 per cent) and others.

Vietnamese businesses invested in 35 countries and territories in the period with Laos taking the lead with 29 per cent or $97.6 million. Australia and Slovakia were the runners-up with 15 per cent and 11 per cent or $50.2 million and $36 million, respectively. Others were Cambodia, Cuba and Myanmar. —VNS