A part of Hà Nội. The capitl city leads in FDI attraction in the first five months of 2019.  Photo phapluatdansinh.phapluatxahoi.vn

HÀ NỘI -- Foreign direct investment (FDI) pledged to Việt Nam in the first five months of this year hit a four-year high of US$16.74 billion, a Foreign Investment Agency report has shown.

The FDI inflow also represented a yearly increase of 69 per cent, the report said, adding that FDI disbursement jumped to $7.3 billion in the period, up 8 per cent year-on-year.

More than 1,360 new projects were licensed with total registered capital of $6.46 billion in January – May, surging 38 per cent against the same period last year, while 505 existing projects were injected an additional $2.63 billion, up 6 per cent year-on-year. 
During this period, 3,160 projects had $7.65 billion in capital contributed by foreign investors, nearly triple the figure of the same period last year and accounting for 46 per cent of total registered capital.
Among 19 fields and sectors receiving capital from foreign investors, manufacturing and processing led with $12 billion, accounting for 72 per cent of total FDI. Real estate came next with $1.13 billion, or 8 per cent, followed by retail and wholesale with $864 million or 5 per cent.  
Hong Kong was Việt Nam’s largest source of FDI in the five-month period with nearly $5.1 billion, accounting for 30 per cent of total investment, thanks to Hong Kong’s Beerco Limited spending $3.85 billion on a stake in Việt Nam Beverage Co Ltd.

South Korea and Singapore were the runners-up with $2.62 billion or 16 per cent and $2.1 billion or 13 per cent, respectively. Mainland China claimed fourth place with more than $2 billion, followed by Japan with $1.52 billion.

Ha Noi retained its crown as the most attractive destination for foreign investors with $4.8 billion, making up 29 per cent of the nation’s total investment in the period as the city has been making efforts to streamline investment procedures.

From now to the year's end, the city will focus on investment promotion through conferences and meetings with investors, while speeding up the licensing of projects and developing infrastructure system to lure investors, online newspaper vietnamplus.vn cited local authorities as saying.

The city will also focus on attracting FDI into information technology, innovation, biotechnology, tourism beside to education-training, healthcare, logistics, finance and research and development.

The southern economic hub HCM City ranked second with $2.8 billion or 17 per cent of total FDI registered in the country, followed by its neighbour Bình Dương Province, with more than $1.2 billion or 7 per cent of the total.

From January to May, the foreign-invested sector generated $70.4 billion from exports, a 5 per cent year-on-year increase and accounting for 70 per cent of the country’s total export turnover.

The sector's import turnover in the period rose by 7 per cent compared to the same period last year to $53 billion. That resulted in a trade surplus of more than $12.7 billion in the five months.

Overseas investment

The FIA also said in its report that Vietnamese firms poured nearly $183 million into 69 projects abroad in the period.

Most of their overseas investment focused on science and technology ($82 million), the banking sector ($37 million) and the information and communication sector ($31 million).

During the period, Spain, the US and Cambodia attracted the largest shares of Vietnamese investment with $60 million, $44 million and $38 million, respectively. — VNS