Hanoi (VNA) – Total inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Vietnamamounted to 38.02 billion USD this year to December 20, a 10-year high,according to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planningand Investment.
The amount,representing a 7.2 percent increase on a yearly basis, included newlyregistered capital, additional capital to existing projects, and share purchaseby foreign investors.
The disbursementof FDI capital also reached a record of 20.38 billion USD.
Specifically, atotal of 3,883 new projects were licensed during the year, up 27.5 percent yearon year, bringing in 16.75 billion USD of new capital, equivalent to 93.2percent of the same period last year. The average capital per project fell from5.9 million USD in 2018 to 4.3 million USD this year.
Meanwhile, 1,381projects raised their capital, up 18.1 percent from 2018. They added a total5.8 billion USD worth of capital, equal to 76.4 percent of the same period lastyear.
A surge of 56.4percent was seen in the capital spent on capital contribution and sharepurchase by foreign investors, raising the amount to 15.47 billion USD. Accordingto the FIA, 45.8 percent of this flow on capital was directed into processingand manufacturing, while 17.8 percent went into real estate.
The FDI sectorearned 181.35 billion USD from exports, including crude oil, a year-on-year riseof 4.2 percent. Excluding crude oil, the sector’s export revenue stood at179.33 billion USD, up 4.4 percent year on year, and accounting for 68.1percent of the country’s total export earnings.
The FDI sectorspent nearly 145.5 billion USD on imports, up 2.5 percent form 2018 and makingup 57.4 percent of the country’s total spending on imports.
As a result, thesector posted an export surplus of nearly 35.86 billion USD, if crude oil is included,and 33.8 billion USD if not. It compensated for the deficit of 25.9 billion USDof the domestic sector./.