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Japan was the largest source of registered capital, followed by Singapore and China.
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Foreign investors also spent US$543.1 million buying shares and contributing capital to local firms.
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Vietnam attracted around 5.5 billion U.S. dollars of foreign investment in January and February this year, down 15.6 percent against the same period last year, the country’s General Statistics Office reported Tuesday.
Specifically, Vietnam licensed 126 new foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with total registered capital of over 3.3 billion U.S. dollars, down 74.8 percent in quantity and 33.9 percent in capital year on year.
Related: How to setup a foreign invested company in Vietnam
Over the two months, foreign investors also spent 543.1 million U.S. dollars buying shares and contributing capital to Vietnamese firms, down 34.4 percent year on year.
“Despite the impact of COVID-19, Vietnam corded positive growth in key areas. According to our data, foreign investors have invested heavily in manufacturing, processing, real estate, and electricity production and distribution.” Sophie Dao, Partner of Global Business Services, an investment consulting firm told Vietnam Insider.
According to local media, a total of 2.5 billion U.S. dollars of FDI was disbursed in the period, up 2 percent against the first two months of 2020, said the office, adding that 71.8 percent were for the processing and manufacturing sector, 15.6 percent for the real estate, and 6.1 percent for the electricity, gas, hot water, steam and air conditioner production and distribution.
Related: Vietnam reports impressive export growth last year
So far this year, the foreign-invested sector has earned US$ 38.07 billion from exports, up 34 per cent year-on-year, and making up 76.1 per cent of the nation’s total export turnover.
At the same time, it spent US$ 31.6 billion on imports, up 31.2 per cent year-on-year, and accounting for 66.6 per cent of the country’s total import value. That resulted in a trade surplus of nearly US$6.5 billion.
Among 46 countries and regions with newly licensed investment projects in Vietnam during the period, Japan was the largest source of registered capital with nearly 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, followed by Singapore with 861.1 million U.S. dollars and China with 374.9 million U.S. dollars, said the office.