Foreign investors have continued to bet on Vietnam’s success story by pouring in fresh cash, sending committed foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Southeast Asian country to $4.29 billion in the first two months of this year, up 38.6% year-on-year.
The strong growth has been driven by a 55.2% year-on-year rise in the number of new projects and several large investments, the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Investment Agency said in its monthly report released Wednesday.
The two-month tally includes $3.6 billion committed for 405 newly-licensed projects, more than doubling year-on-year in value; $442.1 million added to 159 existing projects, down 17.4% in value; and $255.4 million registered for 174 capital contribution transactions, down 68% in value.
Foreign companies disbursed some $2.8 billion in the year to February 20, up 9.8% year-on-year. Disbursement in January was $1.48 billion.
Out of 16 sectors that received foreign investment in the period, manufacturing-processing regained its top rank with $2.54 billion in committed FDI, or 59.1% of the total, up 16.8% year-on-year.
Real estate slipped to second place with $1.41 billion, a 3.5-fold increase from a year earlier, followed by wholesale-retail sales and science-technology.
Among 48 countries and territories investing in Vietnam in the two months, Singapore continued to lead with $2.08 billion, followed by Hong Kong with $525.67 million, Japan with $422.35 million, mainland China with $420.86 million, and South Korea with $220.61 million. The five accounted for 77% of new projects and 85.5% of total registered FDI.
Regarding the number of new projects, mainland China remained on top with 131.
The number of projects that registered to expand capital increased 19.6% year-on-year in January-February, versus a 15.7% year-on-year fall in January. “This indicates that foreign investors continue to have confidence in Vietnam and want to expand their operations,” the agency commented.
Out of the 38 localities welcoming FDI in the two months, Hanoi again took the top position with $914.36 million committed, a 23-fold year-on-year rise. The top 10 recipients made up 81.7% of registered FDI nationwide.
As of February 20, Vietnam had 39,553 valid FDI projects with total registered capital of $473.06 billion. FDI disbursement had reached nearly $300 billion, or 63.4% of the committed amount.