January’s FDI disbursement also rose 9.3% year-on-year to US$1.55 billion.
Meanwhile, the capital pledged for stake acquisitions reached US$761.8 million, up 114% compared to the same month last year, the data noted.
One remarkable project was Japanese Kyoshin Vietnam’s project which was allowed to raise its investment by US$134.7 million. Based in HCM City, the factory specialises in manufacturing molding products and machinery.
Others included a US$65 million logistics project funded by Katolec Global Logistics Vietnam from Japan in the northern province of Ha Nam and a Chinese-financed textile chemical manufacturing project worth US$60 million in the southern province of Tay Ninh.
As per the data, foreign-invested enterprises continued to record a trade surplus of US$1.83 billion during the month despite modest decreases of 5.1% and 1.3% in export and import turnovers at US$13.58 billion and US$11.75 billion, respectively.
The manufacturing and processing sector retained its crown as the most attractive sector to foreign investors, accounting for US$1.19 billion, or 62.4% of total registered capital.
The science and technology sector beat the retail sector to rank second with US$185.6 million, or 9.7%, while the retail sector came third with US$179 million, or 9.3%.
Among 51 countries and territories investing in Vietnam in January, Japan remained the leading investor with nearly US$364 million, making up 19% of the nation’s total FDI. It was followed by the Republic and Korea with US$349 million, or 18.3%, and China with US$308 million, or 16.1%.
Statistics showed that foreign investors pumped cash into 39 localities. Among them, Ho Chi Minh City attracted the lion’s share of FDI with US$746 million, or to 39.1% of the total capital pledged in the country. The southern province of Binh Duong and northern Hai Duong province were the runners-up with US$240 million, or 12.5%, and US$126 million, or 6.5%, respectively.
As of January 2019, the nation is home to more than 27,640 valid foreign-invested projects with capital totaling US$340.1 billion. Over half of the FDI has been disbursed thus far.
According to the ministry, Vietnamese businesses invested only US$1.25 million into five projects abroad in January. Their overseas investments targeted wholesale and retail and science, technology and communication sectors in Singapore, Finland, Japan and the US.
