A corner of HCM city (Source: nhandan.org.vn)
January’s FDI disbursement also rose 9.3% year-on-year to USD1.55 billion, thoibaonganhang.vn reported, citing the ministry’s data.
Meanwhile, the capital pledged for stake acquisitions reached USD761.8 million, up 114% compared to the same month last year, the data noted.
One remarkable project was Japanese Kyoshin Vietnam’s project which was allowed to raise its investment by USD134.7 million. Based in HCM city, the factory specialises in manufacturing molding products and machinery.
Others included a USD65-million logistics project funded by Katolec Global Logistics Vietnam from Japan in the northern province of Ha Nam and a Chinese-financed textile chemical manufacturing project worth USD60 million in the southern province of Tay Ninh.
As per the data, foreign-invested enterprises continued to record a trade surplus of USD1.83 billion during the month despite modest decreases of 5.1% and 1.3% in export and import turnovers at USD13.58 billion and USD11.75 billion, respectively.
The manufacturing and processing sector retained its crown as the most attractive sector to foreign investors, accounting for USD1.19 billion, or 62.4% of total registered capital.
The science and technology sector beat the retail sector to rank second with USD185.6 million, or 9.7%, while the retail sector came third with USD179 million, or 9.3%.
Among 51 countries and territories investing in Vietnam in January, Japan remained the leading investor with nearly USD364 million, making up 19% of the nation’s total FDI. It was followed by the Republic and Korea with USD349 million, or 18.3%, and China with USD308 million, or 16.1%.
Statistics showed that foreign investors pumped cash into 39 localities. Among them, Ho Chi Minh City attracted the lion’s share of FDI with USD746 million, or to 39.1% of the total capital pledged in the country. The southern province of Binh Duong and northern Hai Duong province were the runners-up with USD240 million, or 12.5%, and USD126 million, or 6.5%, respectively.
As of January 2019, the nation is home to more than 27,640 valid foreign-invested projects with capital totaling USD340.1 billion. Over half of the FDI has been disbursed thus far.
According to the ministry, Vietnamese businesses invested only USD1.25 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./.