Foreign investment in Vietnam surges 40 percent

Foreign direct investment (FDI) worth 19.2 billion USD poured into Vietnam through October 20, a whopping rise of more than 40 percent over the same period last year. 

According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), Vietnam had 1,657 new FDI projects during the period with a total registered capital of more than 12.4 billion USD, increasing by respectively 27 percent and 25 percent. 

Of note, some 11.8 billion USD were disbursed, up 16.3 percent against a year ago. 

The processing and manufacturing industry remained the top destination for FDI which attracted 12.4 billion USD during the period, or more than 64 percent of the country's total registered FDI. The property sector came third with total registered capital worth 2.1 billion USD. 

Attracting more than 2.5 billion USD in registered capital, southern Tra Vinh Province earned the distinction of being the province that attracted FDI among 47 provinces and cities, according to the GSO. 

There were more than a dozen provinces and cities that failed to attract FDI in the first ten months of this year. The problem had been addressed by the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment last month. 

Malaysia was the top FDI investor in Vietnam from 59 countries and territories with an investment of 2.4 billion USD, followed by the Republic of Korea with more than 2 billion USD, the United Kingdom with 1.2 billion USD, and Japan with 1.1 billion USD. 

Vietnam is expected to attract 23 billion USD registered FDI this year with disbursed capital of 12.5 billion USD. Last year, the country attracted more than 20 billion USD in FDI.

                                                                                             (Vietnamplus, October 28, 2015)