Vietnam’s FDI inflow up in ten months

A production line of Keihin Co., Ltd. in Thang Long 2 Industrial Park, Hung Yen province (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade reported that total newly-registered and adjusted capital, and shares purchased by foreign investors reached 29.11 billion USD in the first ten months of this year, up 4.3 percent year-on-year.

The ministry said investment in the form of capital contribution and purchase of shares has sharply expanded over the past years, and made up an increasing portion of the accumulative foreign investment, climbing from 17.02 percent in 2017 to 27.78 percent in 2018 and 37.1 percent in the first ten months of this year.

The disbursed capital of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Vietnam was estimated at 16.21 billion USD during the January-October period, a rise of 7.4 percent year-on-year.

As of October 20, 2019, 3,094 projects had received investment licences, an increase of 25.9 percent as compared with the same period last year. The cumulative newly-registered capital was 12.83 billion USD, equivalent to 85.4 percent of the corresponding time last year.

Among projects licensed in the ten-month period were a smart city in Hai Boi commune, Hanoi’s outskirts district of Dong Anh, worth 4.14 billion USD sourced from Japan, a Polypropylene plant and a liquefied petroleum gas underground storage space in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, with total investment capital amounting to 1.2 billion USD by the Republic of Korea.

Newly-registered capital in the ten months, excluding projects worth over 1 billion USD, surged 32.5 percent year-on-year.

Up to 1,145 projects registered for capital adjustment, up 20 percent again the same period last year, with additional investment of 5.47 billion USD, equivalent to 83.6 percent year-on-year.

Foreign investment was funneled into 19 sectors, mostly processing and manufacturing that attracted 18.83 billion USD, accounting for 68.1 percent of the registered capital.

Real estate ranked second with 2.98 billion USD, making up 10.2 percent of the total amount. It was followed by retail, and science-technology.

Among 107 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, Hong Kong (China) took the lead with 6.45 billion USD, of which 3.85 billion USD was used to purchase shares of Vietnam Beverage Co., Ltd.

The second position went to the Republic of Korea with 5.52 billion USD or 19 percent of the total investment poured into Vietnam. It was followed by Singapore with 4.21 billion USD or 14.5 percent.

Foreign investors landed in 60 Vietnamese cities and provinces, with the largest amount coming to Hanoi capital city that raked in 6.61 billion USD.

Noteworthy projects in the period included the smart city project in Dong Anh district which costs more than 4.2 billion USD, invested by a joint venture between BRG Group and Sumitomo Corporation of Japan. Hong Kong’s BeerCo Limited spent 3.85 billion USD on acquiring a stake in Vietnam Beverage Co., Ltd, a local unit of Thai Beverage Public Co., Ltd. Meanwhile, Japan’s Meiko Electronics added 200 million USD to its facility.

According to the municipal Department of Investment and Planning, the FDI capital flowed the most into property development, processing and manufacturing industry, trade and services, and telecommunications and information.

Other localities like Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Bac Ninh provinces were also attractive to foreign investors.

It is noteworthy that during the January-October period, the number of delegations who came to Vietnam to scope out the domestic market increased about 30 percent year-on-year.

Exports by the foreign-invested sector (including crude oil) in the first ten months were worth 150.4 billion USD, up 3.9 percent year-on-year. Exports excluding crude oil stood at 148.7 billion USD, up 4.1 percent.

Imports by the FDI sector were 122.1 billion USD, up 4.4 percent against the same period of 2018. The FDI sector therefore recorded a trade surplus in the first ten months of 28.3 billion USD, including crude oil and 26.6 billion USD excluding crude oil./.