So far this year, foreign direct investment (FDI) channeled into Vietnam neared US$8.9 billion, with new capital surging after a slight decrease in the first three months.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency (FIA), there were 750 new projects granted investment licenses worth over US$4.1 billion, up 65.2% and 11.1% annually, respectively.

A total of 386 projects had their capital added for a total of US$1.66 billion, a 19.5% increase in quantity and a reduction of 68.6% in value against the same period last year. The growth, despite the associated decrease, reflected investors’ confidence in Vietnam’s business climate and decisions to expand their existing projects.

Also in the four months, foreign investors did 1,044 transactions of capital contribution and share purchases, with their contributed capital exceeding US$3.1 billion, up 70.4% year-on-year. They invested in 18 economic sectors, mostly in processing and manufacturing with over US$5.1 billion or 57.8% of their total investment.

The number of countries and territories investing in Vietnam in the period amounted to 77. Singapore took the lead by pouring close to US$2.2 billion in the market, followed by Japan with nearly US$2 billion and China with US$752 million.

Hanoi was the top FDI investment destination with more than US$1.1 billion. Bac Giang came second, followed by Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai.

The FIA said although exports of the FDI sector decreased, it still offset the trade deficit of nearly US$8.3 billion of the domestic business sector and helped the country gain a trade surplus of about US$5.2 billion in the first months of the year.

VNA