New foreign-investment approvals soar in Jan-Feb

Fresh foreign-investment approvals in Vietnam in the year to February 20 had reached more than US$4.29 billion, up by 38.6% year-on-year, according to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

An employee is at work at a factory in Vietnam - PHOTO: HUNG LE

Of this total, newly registered capital amounted to nearly US$3.6 billion, doubling the figure recorded during the same period last year. This rise is attributed to both a higher number and larger scale of new foreign-invested projects, said local news reports.

There were 159 operational foreign-invested projects revising up their investment capital pledges by a total of over US$442 million, up by 19.5% in project number but down by 17.4% in capital.

However, funds contributed by foreign investors to acquire shares in local firms declined slightly in the first two months of the year.

As of February 20, Vietnam had had more than 39,550 operational foreign-invested projects worth a total of nearly US$473.1 billion.

In the year to February 20, foreign investment capital had been distributed across 16 out of 21 economic sectors in the country. Leading the pack was the manufacturing and processing industry, with total foreign investment capital of nearly US$2.54 billion, representing 59.1% of the total and marking a 16.8% increase compared to the same period last year.

The real estate business sector ranked second with US$1.41 billion, accounting for 32.7% of the total, more than 3.5 times higher than in the same period last year.

Foreign direct investment continued to flow into provinces and cities with good infrastructure, including Hanoi, Quang Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Bac Ninh, Dong Nai, Bac Giang, HCMC, Haiphong, and Hung Yen.

Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, China, and South Korea remained the largest foreign investors in Vietnam, accounting for up to 77% of the total new investment projects and nearly 85.5% of the total registered investment capital nationwide in the first two months of 2024.

(Source:SGT)