5 February, 2019
Foreign direct investment (FDI) pledged in Viet Nam witnessed a significant yearly increase of 52 per cent to US$1.9 billion in the first month of this year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
January’s FDI disbursement also rose 9.3 per cent year-on-year to $1.55 billion, thoibaonganhang.vn reported, citing the ministry’s data.
Meanwhile, the capital pledged for stake acquisitions reached $761.8 million, up 114 per cent compared to the same month last year, the data noted.
One remarkable project was Japanese Kyoshin Viet Nam’s project which was allowed to raise its investment by $134.7 million. Based in HCM City, the factory specialises in manufacturing molding products and machinery.
Others included a $65-million logistics project funded by Katolec Global Logistics Viet Nam from Japan in the northern province of Ha Nam and a Chinese-financed textile chemical manufacturing project worth $60 million in the southern province of Tay Ninh.
As per the data, foreign-invested enterprises continued to record a trade surplus of $1.83 billion during the month despite modest decreases of 5.1 per cent and 1.3 per cent in export and import turnovers at $13.58 billion and $11.75 billion, respectively.
The manufacturing and processing sector retained its crown as the most attractive sector to foreign investors, accounting for $1.19 billion, or 62.4 per cent of total registered capital.
The science and technology sector beat the retail sector to rank second with $185.6 million, or 9.7 per cent, while the retail sector came third with $179 million, or 9.3 per cent.
Among 51 countries and territories investing in Viet Nam in January, Japan remained the leading investor with nearly $364 million, making up 19 per cent of the nation’s total FDI. It was followed by the Republic and Korea with $349 million, or 18.3 per cent, and China with $308 million, or 16.1 per cent.
Statistics showed that foreign investors pumped cash into 39 localities. Among them, HCM City attracted the lion’s share of FDI with $746 million, or to 39.1 per cent of the total capital pledged in the country. The southern province of Binh Duong and northern Hai Duong province were the runners-up with $240 million, or 12.5 per cent, and $126 million, or 6.5 per cent, respectively.
As of January 2019, the nation is home to more than 27,640 valid foreign-invested projects with capital totaling $340.1 billion. Over half of the FDI has been disbursed thus far.
According to the ministry, Vietnamese businesses invested only $1.25 million into five projects abroad in January.
Their overseas investments targeted wholesale and retail and science, technology and communication sectors in Singapore, Finland, Japan and the US.
For further information, please contact:
Dang The Duc, Partner, Indochine Counsel
duc.dang@indochinecounsel.com
