Newly-registered FDI rises 18.6 per cent in first five months

Newly-registered FDI capital raising 17 per cent in the first five months

The total newly-registered and added capital, as well as capital contributions and share purchases in the first five months of the year amounted to nearly $14 billion as of May 20, a rise of 0.8 per cent on-year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Investment Agency.

Of these, 613 projects (down 49.4 per cent on-year) received new investment certificates, with a total registered capital of nearly $8.83 billion (up 18.6 per cent on-year).

342 projects (down 21.6 per cent) asked to adjust capital with a total of over $3.86 billion (up 11.7 per cent on-year). The most outstanding project is the adjustment of Polytex Far Eastern Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Taiwan), which raised capital by $610 million after receiving the adjusted investment certificate on May 13, 2021.

"The scale of both newly- and additionally-registered projects has increased remarkably since last year, from $2.2 million in the first five months of 2020 to $14.4 million per new project this year, and from $7.9 million per adjusted project in 2020 to $11.3 million this year," the Foreign Investment Agency representative added.

Additionally, capital contributions and share purchases also reported an on-year decrease in the first five months with 1,422 instances (down 59.7 per cent) and a total investment of $1.31 billion (down 56.3 per cent).

"The capital contributions and share purchases are still on the downtrend, but the decline has been smaller both in the number and value of transactions," he said.

In the first five months, Singapore led among the 70 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with a total investment of $5.26 billion, making up 37.6 per cent of the total investment. Japan ranked second with a total investment of $2.59 billion (18.5 per cent) while South Korea ranked third with $1.83 billion (13.1 per cent), followed by China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

"Of these, most investment from Singapore and Japan is newly-registered capital, making up 84.4 and 70.7 per cent of their FDI into Vietnam," the Foreign Investment Agency representative said.

As of May 20, foreign-invested projects have disbursed $7.15 billion, a rise of 6.7 per cent on-year, which reflects that the FDI sector has recovered and remained strong after the pandemic.

The export turnover of the sector increased sharply during the period, reaching $98 billion, up 36.5 per cent on-year (including crude oil) and $97.4 billion (excluding crude oil), up 37 per cent on-year, equivalent to around 74.6 per cent of the country's total export turnover.

The import turnover of the FDI sector is estimated at $85.4 billion, up 39.7 per cent on-year, and capturing 65.3 per cent of the country's total import turnover. In the first five months, the trade surplus of the sector is estimated at $14.4 billion (including crude oil), and $12.6 billion (excluding crude oil). This has offset the trade deficit of $12.5 billion of local businesses, resulting in an overall trade surplus of $131 million.