Vietnam expects foreign investment to reach record-high $15 billion in 2016

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Workers at a foreign-owned company outside Hanoi. Photo by Reuters.

Foreign direct investment disbursed in Vietnam is expected to hit an all-time high of $15 billion this year, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at a conference in Hanoi on Friday.

The prime minister told donors, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, that actual FDI inflow may reach $15 billion in 2016, up 3.4 percent from last year.

During the first 11 months, the country received an estimated $14.3 billion in actual inflow of foreign direct investment, a rise of 8.3 percent from the same period last year.

South Korea remains the biggest investor in Vietnam, with new factories being built by Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc.

Phuc said, citing government data, that the country is forecast to score a trade surplus of between $2 billion and $3 billion this year, with exports likely to rise 8 percent, Bloomberg reported.

That would be a remarkable turnaround following nearly a $3.2 billion trade deficit last year. The country reported a trade surplus of $3.25 billion in the first ten months as exports increased 7 percent from a year ago.

Vietnam “will redouble efforts to improve its investment environment,” he said.

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The World Bank forecasts Vietnam’s economy will expand by at least 6 percent this year through 2018, among the fastest in the world. Phuc, speaking at the ASEAN Business Summit in Hanoi on Thursday, said economic growth may reach 6.3 percent in 2016.