FDI reaches nearly $7 billion by end of February

South Korea remains the leading investor, contributing nearly 22 per cent of total investment.

Foreign investment into Việt Nam continued an upward trend in the first two months of the year, statistics released on Wednesday by the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Finance showed.

The total foreign registered capital was over US$6.9 billion by the end of February, while disbursed capital was $2.95 billion, up 35.5 per cent and 5.4 per cent, respectively, compared to the same period last year.

However, within the $6.9 billion registered capital, new registrations decreased, while additional investments and capital investments through equity contributions and share purchases increased.

Specifically, there were 516 new investment projects, with total newly registered capital reaching nearly $2.2 billion, a 10 per cent increase in the number of projects but a 48.4 per cent decrease in capital compared to the same period last year.

A total of 256 projects have had their capital adjusted, with additional registered capital of nearly $4.2 billion. This represents an increase of 42.2 per cent in the number of projects, while the adjusted capital is more than seven times the amount over the same period last year.

Meanwhile 553 transactions of equity contributions and share purchases contributed nearly $530 million in capital, a 26.3 per cent decrease in the number of transactions but an 89 per cent increase in capital compared to the first two months of last year.

Commenting on these figures, the Foreign Investment Agency said that the strong increase in adjusted investment capital, equity contributions and share purchases helped offset the 48.4 per cent decrease in new investment capital.

“This led to an overall 35.5 per cent increase in total investment in the country during the first two months of the year,” the agency explained.

The agency’s report also highlighted that Việt Nam’s largest investment partners remain traditional partners from Asia.

South Korea remained the leading investor, pouring over $1.5 billion of capital into Việt Nam in the first two months of the year. This accounts for nearly 22 per cent of total investment, and a five-time increase compared to the same period last year.

The additional investment from Samsung Display alone was $1.2 billion.

Following South Korea is Singapore, with over $1.48 billion of registered capital, accounting for 21.4 per cent of total investment, a decrease of 32.9 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Next are China, Japan and Thailand, among others.

In the past two months, foreign investors have invested in 18 out of 21 economic sectors in Việt Nam.

The manufacturing and processing industry led with a total investment of nearly $4.7 billion, accounting for over 68 per cent of total registered investment, an increase of 51 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The real estate sector ranked second with a total investment of nearly $1.5 billion, accounting for over 21 per cent of total registered investment, a decrease of 3.4 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Following were the science and technology sector and the wholesale and retail sector, with registered capital of $354 million and nearly $149 million, respectively.