The Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) at the Ministry of Planning and Investment has announced that disbursement of foreign direct investment (FDI) had reached a new record for this year as at December 20, of $17.5 billion, up 10.8 per cent year-on-year.

After standing at $11-12 billion for a number of years, last year’s figure of $15.8 billion was a record. The continued increase this year proves that Vietnam remains an attractive investment destination.

Total foreign investment capital in Vietnam, including newly-registered, added, and capital contributed by foreign investors, is at $35.88 billion for the year, up 44.4 per cent year-on-year.

Some 2,591 new projects were granted investment licenses with total registered capital of $21.27 billion, up 42.3 per cent year-on-year.

There were also 1,188 existing projects adding capital totaling $8.41 billion, up 49.2 per cent year-on-year.

Data from the FIA also show that 115 countries and territories have investment projects in Vietnam. Japan ranked first, with total investment of $9.11 billion, accounting for 25.4 per cent of the total, followed by South Korea with $8.49 billion, or 23.7 per cent, and Singapore with $5.3 billion, or 14.8 per cent.

Manufacturing and processing continued to attract substantial attention from foreign investors, with total capital of $15.87 billion, accounting for 44.2 per cent of the total. Power production and distribution followed, with $8.37 billion, or 23.3 per cent, then real estate, with $3.05 billion, or 8.5 per cent.

Many large-scale projects have been granted investment licenses this year, which explains the rapid increase.

There were three build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects licensed in the power sector: the Nghi Son Thermal Power Plant 2 in north-central Thanh Hoa province, with $2.79 billion from Japanese investors, the Van Phong 1 Thermal Power Plant in south-central Khanh Hoa province, with capital of $2.58 billion from Japanese investors, and the Nam Dinh 1 Thermal Power Plant Project in northern Thai Binh province, with total capital of $2.07 billion from Singaporean investors.

In addition, Samsung Display Vietnam in northern Bac Ninh province increased its investment capital to $2.5 billion, the Lo Mon B gas pipeline project saw investment increase to $1.27 billion, and the Intelligent Complex Project in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area in District 2, Ho Chi Minh City, increased capital to $885.85 million.

VN Economic Times