Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh city attracts US$1 billion in FDI

Foreign investment registered in HCMC from the beginning of the year to March 20 was recorded at US$1.052 billion, down 33% year-on-year, VietnamPlus  reports, citing data from the HCMC Statistics Department.

Of the amount, US$142.5 million belonged to 290 new foreign direct investment (FDI) projects, down 50.7% and up 14.2%, respectively. Besides this, some 46 projects FDI are adjusting their investment capital with an additional US$80.8 million, up 30.9%.

The HCMC government has also approved capital contributions and share purchases for 1,342 cases with combined capital of US$829.3 million. The Saigon Times, a local media reports.

The retail and wholesale sector attracted the largest FDI injection in the first quarter, with 132 projects registering US$91.2 million (accounting for over 60% of new investments). It was followed by science and technology, with 62 projects worth US$18.3 million (12.8%); information and communications, with 45 projects worth US$9.5 million (6.7%); construction, with 12 projects worth US$6.8 million; and processing and manufacturing, with six projects worth US$5.5 million.

Regarding investing countries, the city welcomed investments from 37 countries and territories. Of these, Singapore had 45 projects worth US$39.2 million (27.5%). Meanwhile, Hong Kong invested in 23 projects worth US$26.3 million (18.4%) and Japan registered 29 projects worth US$23.5 million (16.5%).

As many as 9,462 FDI projects in HCMC were still active as of March 20 and had registered capital of US$47.5 billion in total.

As for local investments, 8,121 businesses with combined capital of VND95.057 trillion were licensed in HCMC as of March 15. Though the number of licenses picked up by 2.2%, registered capital went down 30.7%.

HCMC saw 240 businesses being dissolved as of February 29, down 61.5% against the same period a year earlier. Besides this, 348 businesses moved out of the city (up 46.8%) and 4,309 others suspended operations (up 45.1%).