About US$3.15 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) and capital for share purchases were registered in Vietnam in July, up nearly 80% against the same period last year and 76% against June, reported the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).
Of the figure, foreign investors will pour $1.02 billion into 202 new projects, up 2.8% over June and 19.1% over the same period last year, reported VNA.
The FIA said a total of $992 million will be used to increase registered capital in 93 existing projects, more than two times higher than in the same month of 2019. And nearly $1.13 billion will be spent to buy stakes in 334 projects, 2.8 times higher than July 2019.
In the first seven months of 2020, Vietnam attracted $18.82 billion, equivalent to 93.1% of the figure recorded in same period last year.
A sum of $10.12 billion was disbursed in the seven-month period, equivalent to 95.9% of last year’s amount. There were 1,620 new FDI projects in the period with a total registered capital of $9.46 billion.
About 619 projects had their registered capital increase during the period by more than $4.7 billion, up 37.7%. However, capital for share purchases dropped by around 50% to $4.64 billion.
According to the FIA, FDI flowed into 18 sectors in the period January-July. Manufacturing and processing industry led with a total registered capital of more than $8.96 billion. Power production and distribution ranked second with a total registered capital of $3.95 billion.
FDI inflow during the period came from 104 countries and territories. Singapore was the largest investor, registering $6.44 billion, followed by the Republic of Korea with $2.8 billion, and China with $1.7 billion.
In terms of new projects, the Republic of Korea ranked first with 421 projects, China came second with 237 projects, and Japan came third with 175 projects.
Foreign players invested in 59 out of the country’s 63 provinces and cities in the January-July period, with Bac Lieu province as the top destination, followed by Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
By the end of July, there were 32,391 valid FDI projects in Vietnam with total registered capital of $380.6 billion, of which $221.8 billion were disbursed.
The FIA said the COVID-19 pandemic was weighing on FDI attraction in the period, but it also created significant opportunities for Vietnam to capture the capital flow spurred by the global shift of value chains, given the country’s improved investment climate and infrastructure system.
Vietnam targets attracting $35 billion to $36 billion in FDI this year. Last year it attracted $38.02 billion in FDI, up 7.2% against 2018 with $20.38 billion disbursed.
Photo by Peter Nguyen on Unsplash
