HANOI – As much as US$10.13 billion (RM42 billion) worth of foreign direct investment (FDI) was injected into Vietnam this year up to March 20, a year-on-year increase of 18.5%, said the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Planning and Investment Ministry.
The Vietnam News Agency reported that investment licences were granted to 234 new projects with a total registered capital of US$7.2 billion, rising 30.6% on the same period last year.
Meanwhile, 161 existing projects added US$2.1 billion to their investment capital, a surge of 97.4% on-year.
On the contrary, capital contributions and share purchases by foreign investors were down 58.8% to US$805.3 million.
Foreign investors pumped capital into 17 sectors, with processing and manufacturing holding the lead at over US$5 billion, or 49.6%, followed by power production and distribution (US$3.9 billion), real estate (US$600 million), and science and technology (US$167 million).
Singapore tops the list of 56 countries and territories landing investment in Vietnam, with nearly US$4.6 billion, or 45.6%, of the total. Japan is second at US$2.1 billion (20.8%) and South Korea third at US$1.2 billion (11.8%).
FIA said the Mekong Delta province of Long An lured the lion’s share of FDI in the period under review at US$3.2 billion, accounting for 32.1% of the total.
Can Tho city in the same region is second, attracting US$1.3 million (13.1%), followed by the northern port city of Hai Phong at US$946 million (9.4%).
So far this year, the foreign-invested sector has earned close to US$58.6 billion from exports including crude oil, up 27.5% on-year, and making up 76.4% of the nation’s total export turnover. – Bernama, March 30, 2021
