Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Foreign investors registered to pour 1.73 billion USDinto Vietnam in June, bringing the total amount of foreign direct investment(FDI) committed to the country in the first six months of the year to 18.47billion USD, down 9.2 percent year on year.
Experts have said the decline is due mainly to a number of large-scale projectsthat received licences in June last year.
Statistics from the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign InvestmentAgency show performance was strong in the first five months of the year, withFDI pledged to the country hitting a four-year high for the period of 16.74billion USD, up 61 percent year on year. The performance for the first half ofthe year was dragged down only by the numbers for June.
More than 1,720 new projects, valued at 7.41 billion USD, were grantedinvestment licences in the first half of this year, marking a year-on-yeardecline of 37 percent. Meanwhile, 628 existing projects were allowed to raisetheir capital by 2.96 billion USD, equivalent to just 66 percent of the sameperiod last year.
On a more positive note, overseas players spent 8.2 billion USD to acquire sharesin Vietnamese companies in the first quarter of the year, a yearly increase of98 percent and accounting for 44 percent of all registered capital.
FDI disbursement also saw a rise of 8 percent to 9.1 billion USD from Januaryto June.
Among 19 fields and sectors receiving capital from foreign investors,manufacturing and processing led with 13.15 billion USD, accounting for 71 percentof the nation’s total FDI. Real estate came next with 1.32 billion USD (7.2 percent)followed by retail and wholesale with 1.05 billion USD (6 percent).
Hong Kong retained its position as Vietnam’s leading source of FDI in thesix-month period with 5.3 billion USD, making up 29 percent of totalinvestment, thanks in large part to Beerco Limited spending 3.85 billion USD ona stake in Vietnam Beverage Co Ltd.
The Republic of Korea ranked second with 2.73 billion USD (15 percent of allFDI), followed by mainland China with 2.29 billion USD (13 percent). Singaporeand Japan were the runners-up with 2.2 billion USD and 1.95 billion USD,respectively.
The capital city remained the most attractive destination for foreign investorsas it lured more than 4.87 billion USD, equivalent to 26.4 percent of all FDIpledged in the country. The southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City came nextwith 3.1 billion USD (17 percent) and the southern province of Binh Duong claimedthird position with 1.37 billion USD (7.5 percent).
The foreign-invested sector recorded a trade surplus of 15.7 billion USD in theJanuary-June period as it exported 85.9 billion USD worth of goods, up 6 percentyear on year, while its imports topped 70 billion USD, surging 8 percent overthe same period last year.
During a meeting on June 23 with Thailand’s major corporations on the sidelinesof the ASEAN Summit in Bangkok, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said theVietnamese Government was continuing to work on creating favourable conditionsfor foreign companies to do business in the country.
However, Vietnam would not accept all FDI projects, but instead would focus onprojects that apply modern and environmentally friendly technologies and areenergy efficient, the PM said.
Earlier, Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC) predicted that FDI into Vietnamwould likely hit 22 billion USD in 2019, up 13 to 15 percent year on year.
The main sources for FDI growth in the near future would come from the Republicof Korea, mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, said BVSC in its latest report.– VNS/VNA
VNA
