FDI disbursement up 6 percent in nine months

Hanoi (VNA) - Disbursement of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first nine months of this year experienced a modest increase of 6 percent to 13.25 billion USD compared to the same period last year.

 

During that time, FDI commitments totaled 25.37 billion USD, almost equivalent to the same period last year, statistics from the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) revealed.

 

Up to 2,182 new projects were licensed with a total registered capital of 14.1 billion USD between January and September, down 3 percent year-on-year, while 841 existing projects were given an additional 5.5 billion USD, a reduction of 18 percent compared to the same period of last year.

 

Meanwhile 5,275 other projects had 5.7 billion USD in capital contributed by foreign investors, surging 37 percent year-on-year.

 

Large-scale projects included the Japanese-invested smart city in the capital’s Dong Anh District worth over 4.13 billion USD; the 1.2-billion USD polypropylene manufacturing plant financed by Hyosung Corporation from the Republic of Korea in the southern province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau; the Laguna hospitality project with an additional fund of 1.12 billion USD from Singaporean investors.

 

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

 

As per the data, manufacturing and processing continued to lure the lion’s share of investment with 11.3 billion USD, accounting for nearly 45 percent of the nation’s total FDI. Real estate came second with 5.8 billion USD, or equivalent to 23 percent of total registered capital, followed by retail and wholesale with 2.1 billion USD or 8.3 percent.

 

The data also showed 104 countries and territories invested in Vietnam in the nine-month period. Among them, Japan ranked first with 7 billion USD, making up 28 percent of total investment. The RoK and Singapore come second and third with 5.6 billion USD or 23 percent and 3.6 billion USD or 15 percent, respectively.

 

The capital remained the most attractive investment destination to foreign investors, with 5.8 billion USD, or 23 percent of total FDI. It was followed by HCM City with 4.2 billion USD or 17 percent and Ba Ria - Vung Tau with 2.1 billion USD or 8.5 percent.

 

As of September 20, the country had 26,646 valid foreign-invested projects with total registered capital of 334 billion USD, and over half of the FDI had been disbursed, the agency noted.-VNA