Increased capital contributions, share purchases

 

In the first two months of 2018, Vietnam granted investment certificates to 411 new projects with total registered capital of US$1.39 billion, equivalent to 68.6 percent of investments in the same period of 2017. It also approved investment adjustments for 133 projects to the tune of an additional US$700.3 million, equivalent to 92.2 percent of investments in the same period of 2017.

 

Foreign investors made 873 capital contributions and share purchases with total capital of US$1.25 billion, an increase of 102.5 percent compared to a year ago. These are forecast to keep surging in 2018, as Vietnam continues to accelerate reform and equitization of state-owned enterprises.

 

In total, FDI pledges over the first two months of 2018 dropped 1.8 percent year on year to US$3.34 billion due to an absence of large projects.

 

Although FDI attraction in the first two months of the year declined, its disbursement saw an increase of 9.7 percent compared to a year ago, reaching US$1.7 billion.

 

RoK tops list

 

Foreign investors have targeted 16 sectors, of which manufacturing and processing attracted capital of US$1.83 billion, accounting for 54.6 percent of the total, followed by the construction sector with US$345.4 million and real estate business with US$312.1 million.

 

Among the 60 countries and territories investing in Vietnam in early 2018, the Republic of Korea (RoK) ranked first with US$851.2 million, or a quarter of total capital, followed by the British Virgin Islands and Singapore with US$450 million and US$418.5 million, respectively.

 

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, FDI from the RoK to Vietnam will continue to increase in 2018 and the following years in light of the many successful major investments by industry leaders such as Samsung, LG and POSCO.

 

During the January-February period, exports by the foreign-invested sector (including crude oil) reached nearly US$24 billion, accounting for 71.3 percent of Vietnam’s total export turnover. The sector also imported goods worth US$19.2 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of nearly US$4.8 billion for the first two months of 2018.

Nguyen Hoa

 

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