Disbursement of foreign direct investment (FDI) capital in Vietnam reached US$1.51 billion in January, representing an increase of 4.1% year-on-year, a report of the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment has shown.

FDI commitments during the first month of the year fell 62.2% year-on-year to US$2.02 billion. PHoto: Pham Hung.

Meanwhile, FDI commitments during the first month of the year fell 62.2% year-on-year to US$2.02 billion, noted the FIA, saying a sharp decline in the figure was due to the one-off US$4-billion LNG plant project in last January.

“Excluding this project, total registered FDI capital in January 2021 is estimated to surge by 51.7% year-on-year,” added the agency.

Year to January 20, 47 new projects have been approved with total registered capital of US$1.3 billion, down 81.8% in the number of projects and 70.3% in capital year-on-year, while 46 existing projects have been injected an additional US$472.2 million, down 40.3% in number but up 41.4% in capital. 

During this period, 194 projects had nearly US$220.8 million in capital contributed by foreign investors, down 78.1% in number of projects and 58.7% in value year-on-year.

Investors have poured money into 14 fields and sectors, in which manufacturing and processing led the pack with investment capital of over US$1.54 billion, accounting for 76.4% of total registered capital. Real estate came second with US$179 million, or 8.9%, followed by transportation, agro-forestry-fishery with respective figures of US$111.9 million and US$60.4 million, respectively.

The report added that out of 33 countries and territories having projects in Vietnam in the first month of the year, Singapore took the lead with US$680.7 million, or 33.8% of the total registered FDI for new projects, followed by China with US$618 million, or 30.6% and Taiwan (China) with US$221.3 million, or 11%.

Among 39 cities and provinces having received FDI in January, Bac Giang has attracted the largest portion of capital commitments in five projects with US$562 million, or 27.9% of the total. Tay Ninh came second with nearly US$348.5 million (17.3%) followed by Nghe An with US$200 million (9.1%).

Big-ticket projects in January include an additional injection of US$312 million into a tire manufacturing plant in Tay Ninh province; Kodi New Material Vietnam manufacturing plan from Singaporean investor worth US$270 million to make tablets and laptops in Bac Giang province; the manufacturing project of photovoltaic products Ja Solar PV Vietnam from Ja Solar Investment (Hong Kong) with investment capital of US$210 million at Bac Giang; hi-tech project Everwin (Hong Kong) worth US$200 million to produce plastic products at Nghe An; semi-conductor manufacturing plant of United States Enterprises (US) for US$100 million at Danang.