Foreign investment soars in first two months

Hanoi lured in the most foreign investment capital in the first two months of the year

Besides, Vietnam saw a record in the disbursement of foreign-invested capital in the first two months within the past three years, with the total disbursed capital of $2.58 billion, up 9.8 per cent on-year, according to statistics published by the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s (MPI) Foreign Investment Agency.

As of February 20, 2019, Vietnam granted the investment certificate to 514 newly-registered projects with the total investment capital of $2.44 billion, up 75.7 per cent from last year.

Besides, there were 176 instances of capital expansion with the total investment capital of $854.8 million, up 22.1 per cent on-year.

Meanwhile, 1,039 M&A deals were signed with the total investment capital of $5.17 billion, four times higher than last year’s figure and making up 61 per cent of the total foreign investment capital inflows.

The manufacturing and processing sector retained its crown as the most attractive sector to foreign investors, accounting for $6.93 billion or 81.8 per cent of the total registered capital.

Real estate ranked second with $478 million (5.6 per cent), while the science and technology sector came third with $306.7 million (3.6 per cent).

Among the 51 countries and territories investing in Vietnam in the first two months, Hong Kong beat Japan to become the leading investor with nearly $4.3 billion, making up 51 per cent of the nation’s total FDI inflow. It was followed by Singapore with $979.1 million (11.5 per cent) and South Korea with $873 million (10.3 per cent).

Foreign investors pumped cash into 44 localities. Among them, Hanoi attracted the lion’s share with $4 billion or 47.3 per cent of the total capital pledged. Ho Chi Minh City and Bac Ninh were the runners-up with $1 billion (12 per cent) and $541.7 million (6.3 per cent).

Previously, in late December 2018, BeerCo Limited – ThaiBev’s 100 per cent owned subsidiary – poured an additional $3.85 billion into Vietnam Beverage Co., Ltd. to increase its holding in Vietnam Beverage to 99.39 per cent. At present, Vietnam Beverage holds 53.59 per cent of Sabeco.