Total newly-registered and additional capital and capital contributions and shares purchased by foreign investors stood at $14.59 billion in the first four months of 2019, up 81 per cent against the same period of 2018, according to the latest report from the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) released on April 24.

There were 1,082 new projects granted investment licenses with total newly-registered capital of nearly $5.34 billion, up 50.4 per cent year-on-year, while 395 projects added capital to the tune of $2.11 billion, equivalent to 94 per cent of the same period of 2018.

There were 1,653 instances of capital contributions and share purchases by foreign investors in the period, with capital contributions standing at $5.68 billion; three-fold higher year-on-year and accounting for 52.6 per cent of total capital. FDI projects disbursed $5.7 billion in the first four months, up 7.5 per cent.

Nineteen fields received investment from foreign investors, in which processing and manufacturing attracted much attention, with total capital of nearly $10.5 billion, accounting for 72 per cent.

Real estate ranked second, with $1.1 billion, accounting for 7.5 per cent, while power, gas and water production and distribution ranked third, with $22.3 billion, or 6.7 per cent.

There were 80 countries and territories with new investment projects. Hong Kong again led the way, with nearly $4.7 billion, followed by South Korea with $1.98 billion and Singapore with $1.87 billion.

Sixty-three cities and provinces received investment in the period, in which Hanoi attracted the most, with more than $4.47 billion. Ho Chi Minh City ranked second, with more than $2.37 billion, then Binh Duong province, with $1.02 billion.

Exports by the foreign-invested sector (including crude oil) in the first four months were worth $55.4 billion, up 4 per cent year-on-year and accounting for 70.4 per cent of the total.

Exports excluding crude oil stood at $54.68 billion, up 3.9 per cent of the figure in the first four months of 2018 and accounting for 69.4 per cent of the total.

Imports by the FDI sector were $42.3 billion, up 9.3 per cent against the same period of 2018 and capturing 58 per cent of total import turnover.

The FDI sector therefore recorded a trade surplus in the first four months of $11.17 billion including crude oil and $10.5 billion excluding crude oil.

VN Economic Times