FDI disbursement hits over 15 billion USD in ten months

Hanoi (VNA) – Capital disbursement of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects stood at 15.1 billion USD as of October 20, up 6.3 percent year-on-year, according to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

This year to October 20, the country granted investment certificates to 2,458 new projects with 15 billion USD of registered capital, equal to 92.2 percent of the figure of the same period of 2017, and allowed 954 existing projects to add a total of 6.5 billion USD, equal to 90 percent year-on-year.

From January to October, foreign investors’ capital contribution and share purchase were valued at 6.3 billion USD, tantamount to 98.8 percent of the same period last year.

Foreign investment was poured into 18 sectors, with the processing and manufacturing industry absorbing the most - 13.2 billion USD, or 47.5 percent of total registered capital.

Other attractive fields were real estate, and wholesale and retail with 5.7 billion USD and 2.3 billion USD respectively, accounting for 20.4 percent and 8.5 percent of total investment.

As many as 105 countries and territories have made investment in Vietnam in the period. Japan tops the list with 7.6 billion USD, making up 27.5 percent of total investment; followed by the Republic of Korea with 6.5 billion USD (23.4 percent); and Singapore with 3.9 billion USD (14 percent).

The FIA said foreign firms invested in 59 cities and provinces nationwide, of which Hanoi attracted the largest share with 6.15 billion USD, or 22 percent of total investment. Ho Chi Minh City came second with 4.6 billion USD (16.5 percent), and Ba Ria-Vung Tau ranked third with 2.4 billion USD (8.8 percent).

Major projects in the reviewed period are a smart city project worth over 4.1 billion USD in Hai Boi commune, in Hanoi’s Dong Anh district invested by Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation; and a polypropylene (PP) plant and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) warehouse worth 1.2 billion USD in Ba Ria-Vung Tau invested by the RoK’s Hyosung Corporation. Meanwhile, the Singapore-invested Laguna resort project in Thua Thien Hue received an addition of 1.12 billion USD.

The FDI sector exported 143.4 billion USD worth of goods in the period, including crude oil, showing a year-on-year rise of 13.2 percent and making up nearly 72.2 percent of the country’s total export turnover. –VNA