Foreign investment shows signs of cooling down in first seven months

Foreign investors showed somewhat less appetite for dealmaking in the first seven months of the year

According to statistics published by the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA), Vietnam lured in $20.2 billion in foreign investment capital, down 13.4 per cent against the corresponding period last year. Foreign direct investment (FDI) projects disbursed an estimated $10.55 billion in the first seven months of the year, up 6.63 per cent on-year.

The country granted investment certificates to 2,064 new projects with the total newly registered capital of $8.27 billion, down 37.4 per cent on-year.

There were 791 instances of added capital registration with the total additionally registered capital of $3.4 billion, a decrease of 30.4 per cent on-year.

Regarding capital contributions and share purchases, the country saw 4,387 such deals by foreign investors with the total value reaching $8.52 billion, up 77.8 per cent on-year.

In the first seven months of 2019, 19 fields received investment from foreign investors, with the processing and manufacturing sector taking the lead with $14.46 billion, accounting for 71.5 per cent of the total registered investment capital. Real estate business ranked second with $1.47 billion, accounting for 7.3 per cent. Wholesale and retail ranked third with the total registered investment capital of $1.09 billion, capturing 5.4 per cent.

65 countries and territories have investment projects in Vietnam. China ranked first in terms of newly-registered capital with the total capital of $1.78 billion, while South Korea ranked second with $1.47 billion. Japan ranked third with $1.12 billion.

48 cities and provinces received FDI. Binh Duong attracted the most with the total newly-registered capital of more than $766 million, capturing 9.3 per cent of the country total. Ho Chi Minh City ranked second with more than $688 billion, accounting for 8.3 per cent. Tay Ninh ranked third with over $599 million, or 7.25 per cent.