Vietnam attracted a total of 30.8 billion USD worth of registered foreign direct investment (FDI) as of November 20, a slight decrease of 6.8 percent year-on-year.

 

According to the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, some 2,714 new FDI projects were granted investment licences with total registered capital of 15.78 billion USD in the period, while more than 1,050 existing projects adjusted their investment capital with a total additional sum of 7.4 billion USD, equivalent to 79.7 percent and 92.6 percent of the total in same period last year, respectively.

 

Notably, foreign capital poured into buying stakes in Vietnam rose by 44.4 percent to 7.6 billion USD in total.

 

The National Financial Supervisory Committee said the foreign capital inflow through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) was becoming more common in Vietnam because the time taken to complete investment procedures is being cut.

 

Foreign investors poured most into the manufacturing and processing sector out of 18 industries which saw foreign investment in the period, with a total sum of 14.2 billion USD, or 46.2 percent of the registered capital, followed by real estate with 6.5 billion USD and then the wholesale and retail industry with 3.1 billion USD.

 

Among 108 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, statistics showed that Japan was the largest foreign investor in the 11-month period, pouring in nearly 8 billion USD, followed by the Republic of Korea with 6.8 billion USD and Singapore with 4.1 billion USD.

 

Hanoi was the top destination for FDI flow which attracted 6.3 billion USD in registered capital. HCM City ranked second with registered capital of 5.6 billion USD, then Hai Phong with 2.49 billion USD in registered capital.

 

Despite the fall in registered FDI in the period, the disbursement posted a year-on-year increase of 3.1 percent to 16.5 billion USD. 

 

So far, there were more than 27,000 existing FDI projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 337.8 billion USD, more than 188 billion USD of which was disbursed.

 

The Republic of Korea was the largest investor in Vietnam with total registered capital of 62.2 billion USD so far and Japan came second with total registered capital of 56.4 billion USD.

 

After about three decades of attracting FDI, Vietnam was now more selective, targeting to attract quality capital flow into technology-rich and environmentally-friendly industries and boost the development of local companies through setting up value chains.-VNA