Vietnam attracts US$5.46 billion in foreign investment

As many as 126 foreign projects were granted investment licences with a total registered capital of US$ 3.31 billion, a year-on-year fall of 33.9%.

Meanwhile, 115 existing projects adjusted their investment capital with a total additional sum of US$1.61 billion, 2.5 times higher than during the same time period last year.

Capital contributions and share purchases by foreign investors stood at US$543.1 million, down 34.4%.

Foreign investors pumped capital into 17 sectors, with processing and manufacturing holding the lead with over US$3 billion or 55.7%, followed by power production and distribution with US$1.44 billion (26.5%), real estate US$485 million, and the science-technology sector at nearly US$153 million.

Japan topped the list of 46 countries and territories landing investment in Vietnam, with US$ 1.64 billion, equivalent to almost 30% of the total. Singapore came second with US$ 1.07 billion (19.6%), and the Republic of Korea third with US$ 1.05 billion (19.3%).

The ministry said the southern province of Can Tho attracted the lion's share of FDI with US$ 1.31 billion, accounting for 24.2% of the total. Hai Phong city was the runner-up since it attracted nearly US$918 million, or 16.8%. Bac Giang came third with nearly US$ 573 million (10.5%).

So far this year, the foreign-invested sector has earned US$38.07 billion from exports, up 34% year-on-year, and making up 76.1% of the nation's total export turnover. At the same time, it spent US$31.6 billion on imports, up 31.2% year-on-year, and accounting for 66.6% of the country's total import value. This resulted in a trade surplus of nearly US$6.5 billion.