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FDI grows nearly 20% in Jan-Aug period

VGP – Viet Nam has attracted US$12.63 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first eight months of 2013, posting a year-on-year increase of 19.5%, according to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).

August 24, 2013 5:27 PM GMT+7

In the January-August period, 769 new projects were granted licenses with total capital of US$7.4 billion, up 12.2% against the same period last year.

Meanwhile, 297 other projects expanded investment capitalized at US$5.22 billion, up 31.7% against the same period last year.

The FIA reported that FDI disbursement was estimated at US$7.5 billion, or a year-on-year increase of 3.8%. 

Processing and manufacturing sector magnetized up to 85.7% of the newly-register capital with over 370 new projects worth US$10.8 billion. Real estate sector ranked second with over US$588 million of capital (representing 4.7%), followed by science and technology with US$334 million.

Japan took the lead by investing US$4.35 billion in Viet Nam, followed by Singapore with US$3.78 billion, and Russia with US$1.018 billion. 

In the reviewed period, with the expansion of Nghi Son Oil Refinery and Petrochemical Complex, the central province of Thanh Hoa topped the list of FDI attraction, followed by Thai Nguyen and Bac Ninh. 

Statistics shows that export volume of the FDI sector (including crude oil) was forecast at over US$56 billion in the first eight months, or equivalent to over 66% of the country’s total export revenue.

Meanwhile the sector’s import turnover was estimated at US$48.292 billion, up 25.1% against the same period last year and making up 56.55% of the total import turnover.

In the January-August period, the sector ran a trade surplus of US$7.81 billion while the national trade gap stood at US$577 million./.

By Kim Anh