Production at Star Engineers Việt Nam in Phú Thọ Province. Việt Nam attracted US$24.81 billion worth of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first five months of this year, up 34.9 per cent. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Thảo

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam attracted US$24.8 billion in foreign investment during the first five months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 34.9 per cent, according to the latest update from the National Statistics Office.

The figure includes newly registered capital, additional capital injected into existing projects, and foreign investors’ capital contributions and share purchases.

As of May 31, a total of 1,576 new projects had been licensed with registered capital of $14.84 billion, up 1.7 per cent in project numbers and more than double the value recorded in the same period last year.

Capital mainly flowed into the manufacturing and processing industry, which attracted $9.64 billion, accounting for 65 per cent of total new commitments. Electricity, gas, water supply and air-conditioning projects received $2.45 billion, or 16.5 per cent, while other sectors attracted the remaining $2.75 billion.

Notably, disbursed FDI increased by 9.6 per cent to an estimated $9.75 billion during the January-May period, marking the highest five-month disbursement level in the past five years.

The manufacturing and processing sector accounted for $8.06 billion, or 82.7 per cent of total realised FDI, while real estate accounted for $716.5 million, equivalent to 7.3 per cent, and electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply projects attracted $356.6 million, or 3.7 per cent.

Among the 58 countries and territories with new projects in Việt Nam during the period, Singapore remained the largest investor with $6.8 billion, followed by the Republic of Korea with $4.22 billion and mainland China with $1.79 billion.

Additional capital pledged to existing projects totalled $5.78 billion across 415 projects, down 32.1 per cent from the same period last year.

Foreign investors also made 1,164 capital contribution and share purchase transactions worth a combined $4.19 billion, up 46.7 per cent year-on-year. — BIZHUB/VNS