Disbursement of foreign investment during the first nine months of this year surpassed US$8 billion, an increase of 4.8 percent year-on-year, according to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).
However, the disbursement which hit US$800 million in September was US$50 million lower than that of the previous month, and far below the average disbursement rate of about US$900 million per month since the beginning of this year.
During the nine-month period, the nation attracted US$12.19 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI), 87.3 percent of the amount during the same period last year. The country had set a target of US$22 to US$25 billion in FDI this year.
Up to 720 new projects were licensed during the period, worth a combined US$11.4 billion, an increase of 37.3 percent over the same period last year.
There was a decline in additional investment in existing projects, the FIA said, adding that 153 projects had registered to increase their capital by a combined US$783 million, only 13.8 percent of the same period last year.
The Netherlands was the leading source of foreign investment in Vietnam, investing US$2.2 billion, followed by the Republic of Korea (RoK) with US$2 billion and the US with US$1.87 billion.
The processing and manufacturing sector held the lion’s share of FDI, gobbling up US$3.65 billion, or 30.2 percent of the registered total.
Business advantages were described as one of the main reasons for the large influx of FDI into the sector. The foreign-invested sector posted a nine-month export turnover of US$27.4 billion, a year-on-year rise of 26.5 percent or equivalent to 53 percent of the country’s total export value.
Meanwhile, FDI in electric and gas production and distribution reached US$2.94 billion, accounting for 24 percent of all FDI.
With a high average investment capital of US$150 million per project, the real estate sector ranked third in FDI attraction with US$2.75 billion, making up 22.6 percent of the total.
The southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau was the top destination for foreign investment, attracting US$2.23 billion. It was followed by the northern province of Quang Ninh with US$2.15 billion, HCM City with over US$1.8 billion and central Nghe An province with US$1 billion.
Source: VOV
Photo: vneconomy