FDI attraction in five months tops 11 billion USD

More than 11.07 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) was funneled into Vietnam during January-May, up 2% against the same time last year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)’s Foreign Investment Agency.

Of the total, 7.94 billion USD was poured into 1,227 new projects, a year-on-year increase of 50.8% and 27.5%, respectively. Meanwhile, 440 projects had their capital added with a total of over 2.08 billion USD, dropping 9.3% and 8.7% as compared to the same time last year.

Foreigners also injected more than 1.05 billion USD into 1,158 capital contribution and share purchase deals during the period, down 68.2% and 9.4%.

Among the 78 countries and territories having investment in Vietnam in the first five months, Singapore was the largest since it landed nearly 3.25 billion USD in the country, making up of 29.3% of the total and growing 28.2% year-on-year.

Foreign firms invested in 17 out of the 21 economic sectors, with the processing and manufacturing industry taking lead as it saw over 7.42 billion USD, or 67.1% of the total investment and up 11.9% against the same time last year. The realty sector came second with 1.98 billion USD in investment, rising 70.8% year-on-year, followed by wholesale and retail sales (514.2 million USD), and transport and warehousing (342.2 million USD).

The MoIT said most of the FDI ran to localities with sound infrastructure, stable human resources, concerted efforts in administrative procedure reform, and active investment promotion work like Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Quang Ninh, Bac Giang, Hai Phong, Thai Nguyen, and Hung Yen.

The disbursement of FDI capital grew 7.8% to some 8.25 billion USD during the five-month period.

As of May 20, the country was home to 40,285 valid projects with a combined capital of 481.33 billion USD, around 305.43 billion USD of which has been disbursed so far./.