FDI Grows in First Quarter

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Mar. 29 – The Vietnam General Statistics Office (GSO) recently announced that foreign direct investment (FDI) into Vietnam in the form of newly registered and additional capital reached US$6.034 billion in the first quarter of 2013, up 63.6 percent year on year. US$5.4 billion was invested in March alone.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) further reported that a total of 191 new FDI projects were granted licenses with a total registered capital of US$2.9 billion from January to March. During this period, foreign investors invested in 84 new FDI projects capitalized at US$5.53 billion across just 15 sectors. Most of the new licenses were granted in the manufacturing sector followed by the real estate, retail and wholesale sectors.

In addition, US$3.1 billion was supplemented into 71 pre-existing projects, marking nearly a 400 percent increase year on year.

Japan renewed its role as the largest investor in Vietnam during this period as it accounted for over US$3.15 billion, or 52.3 percent of the country’s total FDI. Japan was followed by Singapore with US$2.27 billion (37.8 percent) and South Korea with US$156.9 million (2.6 percent).

Also, from January to March, Vietnam earned US$19.2 billion from exports, up 25.6 percent year on year. Meanwhile, Vietnam imported US$16.14 billion worth of goods, up 25.5 percent year on year.

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