HCMC lures $369 mln in Jan-Feb registered FDI

Ho Chi Minh City attracted $369 million in registered foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first two months of this year, up 59% year-on-year, official data shows.

Registered capital includes newly registered capital, additional capital of operational projects, and capital contributions for stake acquisitions.

The figure accounted for 10.52% of the country’s total and made the southern economic hub rank second nationwide in FDI attraction, only after the northern province of Bac Giang, with $824.34 million.

The city granted investment certificates to 103 FDI projects in the two months, with registered capital of nearly $99 million. Besides, $70.4 million was added to 29 existing projects, while 305 foreign investors contributed $199.7 million for stake acquisitions.

The construction sector lured the largest volume of newly-registered FDI with $53.54 million, making up 54% of the total. It was followed by wholesale-retail sale and auto-motorbike repairs with over $31.27 million, or 31.59%.

Singapore ranked first among investors in HCMC in terms of both newly-registered capital and capital contribution for stake acquisitions.

Newly-registerd capital from the state island reached $77.88 million in the two-month period, accounting for 78.67% of HCMC's total. Its capital contribution for stake acquisitions was $120.65 million or 60.42% of the city's total.

As of February 20, HCMC had attracted about $80.34 billion in registered capital, ranking first in the country.

Chairman of HCMC Pham Van Mai said in the first two months, the city had met its economic targets. "There have been some positive signals from the world economy, notably changes from the Chinese and U.S. markets and the interest rate policy of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Domestically, the government and the city are focusing on removing difficulties for production and business," he told a conference on Friday.

"If we can catch opportunities from these positive changes, we will end the decline and accelerate sooner than predicted," he added.