FDI pledges to Vietnam reach US$8.55 billion in first quarter

3/25/2020 - 3:58:17 PM

Foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges to Vietnam in the first three months of 2020 fell by a sharp 20.9% over the same period of 2019 to US$8.55 billion, according to the Foreign Investment Agency.

Bac Lieu province grants a permit for a foreign-invested LNG power station project. (Photo: VNA)

Disbursement also dropped by 6.6% year-on-year to US$3.85 billion, data as of March 20 has shown.

In the first quarter, Vietnam licensed 758 foreign-invested projects worth a total of US$5.5 billion, mainly thanks to a US$4 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant in the southern province of Bac Lieu.

Such an investment made Bac Lieu the largest recipient of foreign investment and power generation the most attractive industry during the period.

Additional pledges to existing projects and capital contributions and share purchases saw steep declines to US$1.07 billion and US$2 billion, respectively.

With power generation occupying the top place, manufacturing was the second most attractive sector with US$2.72 billion, followed by wholesale and retail with US$682 million.

Ho Chi Minh City was the second largest recipient of foreign investment with over US$1 billion while the southern province of Tay Ninh came third with US$506.8 million.

A breakdown of investors shows that Singapore made the largest investment in Vietnam in the January-March period with US$4.54 billion, followed by Japan and China with US$846.7 million and US$815.6 million, respectively.

As of March 20, there were over 31,600 active foreign-invested projects in the country with total pledges of US$370 billion, of which 58.3% had been disbursed.

Source: NDO

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