Investment Ministry updates 2013 FDI figure
A 36% increase or US$22.34 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) was registered in 2013, a revised report by Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment noted.
Earlier, in December, the agency announced that the country had attracted approximately US$21.63 billion in FDI for the year. However, this figure was calculated as of December 15.
According to the new report released last week, up to 1,530 new foreign-invested projects were licensed with a total registered capital of US$14.48 billion by the end of 2013, increasing 67% against the previous year's figure.
Five of these projects were large-scale with an investment capital of over US$1 billion or equivalent to 54% of the total FDI pledged in the country.
Among them included a two-billion-USD factory for manufacturing and assembling electronics being developed by Samsung Electronics Vietnam and China's Vinh Tan No 4 thermal power plant worth overUS$2 billion.
Another positive development was the approval of the expansion of 590 existing projects, thereby adding US$7.86 billion to their capital and marking a slight increase of 1.5%.
During the reviewed period, FDI disbursement also showed a positive trend with 10% rise over the previous year at US$11.5 billion.
The manufacturing and processing sector attracted the largest share of FDI, reaching US$17.14 billion or 77% of the nation's total registered capital. The wholesale and retail and real estate sectors ranked second and third, attracting US$2.04 billion and US$952 million, respectively.
Among the 57 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, Japan was the leading source of FDI with over 5.87 billion, which is 24% of the total FDI registered in the country. It was followed by Singapore (US$4.76 billion) and the Republic of Korea (US$4.46 billion).
The report revealed that the northern province of Thai Nguyen was considered the most attractive destination by foreign investors last year with 3.4 billion investment, accounting for 15.2% of the country's total FDI. The central province of Thanh Hoa and northern port city of Haiphong ranked second and third, with US$2.93 billion and US$2.61 billion, respectively.
During the January-December period, the foreign-invested sector generated US$88.19 billion from exports, a yearly rise of 22.1% or equivalent to 66.7% of the country's total export turnover, while its imports reached US$74.42 billion, up 24.2%.