ADDITIONALLY-REGISTERED FDI CAPITAL RISES 2.5-FOLD

In the first two months of 2021, despite the sharp drop in newly-registered foreign direct investment (FDI), $1.61 billion was poured into expanding capital at existing projects, a 2.5-fold rise on-year.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Investment Agency, as of February 20, total newly-registered and added capital, as well as investment into capital contribution and share purchases amounted to $5.46 billion, equivalent to 84.4 per cent of the same period last year.

Of this, there were 126 newly-registered projects (down 74.8 per cent on-year) with a total investment of $3.31 billion, down 33.9 per cent on-year. The outstanding new project in these two months are the $1.3 billion O Mon II thermal power plant in Can Tho city, developed by a joint venture between Vietnam Trading Engineering Construction JSC (Vietracimex) and Marubeni Corporation from Japan, which received its investment certificate at the end of January.

115 projects (down 23.8 per cent on-year) expanded capital with a total value of $1.61 billion, 2.5 times as much as last year, largely driven by the LG Display Haiphong project which increased capital by $750 million.

There were 445 instances of capital contributions and share purchases (down 71.9 per cent on-year) with a total investment of $543.1 million (down 34.4 per cent).

The disbursement of foreign capital reached $2.5 billion in the first two months, rising 2 per cent on-year.

The export turnover of foreign-invested enterprises also increased impressively. These actors exported $38.07 billion (including crude oil) worth of goods and services, a 34 per cent increase on-year and making up 76.1 per cent of the country's export turnover. Excluding crude oil, this export turnover was $37.9 billion, up 35.1 per cent, capturing 75.7 per cent of the country's total export turnover.

Meanwhile, their import turnover was $31.6 billion, rising 31.2 per cent on-year. Thus, in the first two months, the trade surplus of foreign-invested enterprises was $6.5 billion (including crude oil) or nearly $6.3 billion (excluding crude oil). This has offset the $3.9 billion trade deficit of the domestic sector, resulting in a trade surplus of $2.6 billion.

Soure: VIR