According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency, as of September 20, the country licensed 1,432 new foreign-invested projects, capitalized at US$11.03 billion, surging 44% over the same period last year.

During the above-mentioned period, 461 projects were approved to increase their investment capital by US$6.11 billion, a yearly rise of 72.6%.

The Ministry said in a meeting on September 26 that there was a sharp increase in FDI in the past nine months in comparison with the same period last year, as a result of large-scale projects that were granted investment licences in August and September.

These projects include the Duyen Hai 2 thermal power plant by a Malaysian investor with a total investment capital of US$2.4 billion in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh, and the US$3-billion expansion of Korea's Samsung Display Project in Bac Ninh Industrial Zone.

The FDI disbursement in the nine-month period reached US$9.65 billion, a year-on-year rise of 8.4%.

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Foreign investors invested in 49 provinces and cities during the period, with northern Bac Ninh continuing to be the top FDI destination in the country, luring US$3.34 billion or equivalent to 20.1% of the total registered capital. It was followed by HCM City with US$2.61 billion or 15.2% and southern province of Tra Vinh with US$2.52 billion or 14.7%.

In term of region, southern region lured the largest share of FDI with US$6.4 billion, making up 37.3% of the nation’s registered FDI. The Red River Delta region ranked next with US$6.05 billion or 35.3%. Meanwhile, the Central Highlands region attracted only US$31.8 million or 0.2%.

From January to September, South Korea is still the leading investor in Vietnam, pumping US$5.74 billion, followed by Malaysia (US$2.4 billion), the United Kingdom (US$1.27 billion) and the British Virgin Islands (US$1.13 billion).

Manufacturing and processing continued to be the most attractive sector, with US$11.36 billion, accounting for 66.3% of the nation’s total FDI.   Electricity production and distribution came in the second place with US$2.6 billion while real estate ranked third with US$1.81 billion.

According to the agency, the foreign-invested sector saw a trade surplus of US$11.9 billion as it generated US$85.2 billion from exports, up 15.8% year-on-year while imported US$73.29 billion worth of goods, up 20.7%.

Vietnam has set a goal of luring US$23 billion FDI this year, with FDI disbursement expected to hit approximately US$12.5 billion./.

Van Hai (Source: Vietrade.gov.vn)