Singapore rose to become the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam in the first four months of 2020 with 5.07 billion USD, accounting for 41 percent of the total.

With 5.07 billion USD, Singapore becomes the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam in the first four months of 2020 - Illustrative image (Source: nhipcaudautu.vn)

It was followed by Thailand and Japan, with 1.46 billion USD and 1.16 billion USD, respectively, according the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).

Foreign investors poured 12.33 billion USD in total into Viet Nam during January-April, a year-on-year decrease of 15.5 percent due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The period saw 984 new foreign-invested projects licensed with a total registered capital of 6.78 billion USD, down 9.1 percent in term of number of projects but up 26.9 percent in value year-on-year.

Meanwhile, 335 existing projects were allowed to raise their investments by more than 3.07 billion USD, surging 45.6 percent over the same period last year.

According to the agency, FDI disbursement reached 5.15 billion USD in the four months or equivalent to 90.4 percent of the last year’s corresponding period.

Foreign investors pledged to pour capital in 18 sectors, in which manufacturing and processing took the lead with nearly 6 billion USD, accounting for 48.4 percent of the total capital. It was followed by power production and distribution (3.9 billion USD); wholesale and retail (776 million USD); and real estate (665 million USD), the FIA said.

Among 54 localities receiving FDI in the four-month period, the southern province of Bac Lieu ranked top with 4 billion USD. Southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province came next with 1.9 billion USD and HCM City placed third with 1.31 billion USD, followed by Ha Noi capital city and Ha Nam and Binh Duong provinces.

Source: VNA