Three-quarter FDI reaches US$25.37 billion
The latest data from the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) shows that in the first nine months of this year, Vietnam attracted an additional US$25.37 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) from 104 countries and territories, representing 99.6 percent of the amount in the same period last year.
Almost 2,200 new projects
In the first nine months of 2018, Vietnam attracted an additional 2,182 FDI projects totaling US$14.1 billion in registered capital, equaling 97 percent of the sum invested during the same period last year. At the same time, 841 existing FDI projects increased their registered capital by US$5.5 billion, 82.1 percent of that in the same period of 2017, while foreign investors bought shares and holdings totaling US$5.7 billion, up 36.8 percent. FIA said the real value of shares bought by foreign investors was likely higher than this announced figure.
In the first nine months, foreign investors invested in 18 industries, with the manufacturing and processing sector becoming the biggest FDI attractor with US$11.3 billion, accounting for 44.6 percent of all registered FDI capital that Vietnam has attracted since early this year. It was followed by the real estate sector with US$5.8 billion, accounting for almost 23 percent of the total, and wholesale and retail with US$2.1 billion (8.3 percent).
Hanoi takes the lead
Hanoi ranked first among 59 provinces and cities attracting FDI in the first nine months with US$5.8 billion, accounting for nearly 23 percent of the total, followed by Ho Chi Minh City with US$4.2 billion (16.6 percent), and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province with US$2.1 billion (8.5 percent).
In the first nine months, Japan became the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam with US$7 billion, accounting for 28 percent of the total, followed by the Republic of Korea (RoK) with US$5.6 billion (22.4 percent), and Singapore with US$3.6 billion (14.4 percent).
A Ministry of Planning and Investment representative said several large-scale Japanese projects, including Sumitomo Corporation’s US$4.14-billion smart city project, greatly increased Japanese investment in Vietnam in the first nine months. Exports by the FDI sector (including crude oil) reached US$127.8 billion in the first nine months of 2018, up 14.6 percent from the same period last year and accounting for 71.4 percent of the country’s total. Meanwhile, imports by the sector hit US$104.1 billion, up 11.9 percent and representing almost 60 percent of the country’s total. In the first nine months, the FDI sector exported US$23.7 billion more than it imported maintaining its great contribution to the Vietnamese economy.
In the first nine months of 2018, foreign investors invested US$13.25 billion in Vietnam, up six percent from the same period in 2017. The disbursed capital has increased yearly, showing that Vietnam remains increasingly attractive to foreign investors.
Source: ven.vn
