Nearly US$25.5 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) was registered to invest in Vietnam in the first nine months of this year, up 34.3% over the same period last year. In this period, approximately US$12.5 billion was disbursed, an increase of 13.4% against the same period last year, according to the Foreign Investment Agency.
Ho Chi Minh City continued to rank first in FDI attraction, with a total registered investment of US$3.74 billion, whilst Thanh Hoa province came in second with US$3.15 billion and Bac Ninh came in third with US$3.14 billion in FDI capital.
The total US$25.5 billion FDI capital comprises of US$14.56 billion worth of newly-registered capital invested in 1,844 newly-licensed projects, a 30.4% annual increase and US$6.75 billion worth of supplemented capital added to 878 existing projects, a 28.3% annual increase.
Meanwhile, the remaining US$4.16 billion worth of FDI was invested in company stakes bought by foreign investors.
According to the Foreign Investment Agency, the processing and manufacturing sector attracted the largest investment from foreign investors, with a total registered FDI capital of US$12.64 billion, accounting for 49.6% of the total registered capital in the first nine months of this year.
The electricity production and distribution sector ranked second with a total registered capital of US$5.37 billion, accounting for 21% of the total registered capital. Meanwhile, the wholesale and retail sale sector came in third with a total registered capital of US$1.58 billion, making up 6.2% of the total registered capital.
The Republic of Korea (RoK) remained the top foreign investor in Vietnam, with a total investment capital of US$6.31 billion, accounting for 24.7% of the total investment capital.
Japan was the runner-up with a total investment capital of US$5.91 billion, accounting for 23.17%, while Singapore came in third with a total capital of US$4.14 billion, accounting for 16.2% of the total investment capital.
