Vietnam attracts 12.33 billion USD in FDI in four months 02:48     Vietnam attracted 12.33 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first four months of 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 15.5 percent due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency (FIA). The Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant in the southern province of Bac Lieu (Photo: VNA) Vietnam attracted 12.33 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first four months of 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 15.5 percent due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency (FIA). The figure, however, was much higher than that of the same period of 2018 and 2017 with 5.8 billion USD and 9.2 billion USD, respectively, the FIA said. The four-month period saw 984 new foreign-invested projects licensed with a total registered capital of 6.78 billion USD, down 9.1 percent in term of number of projects but up 26.9 percent in value year-on-year. Of them, the Bac Lieu LNG-to-power project marked the first billion-dollar project in 2020 with investment capital of 4 billion USD, accounting for 59 percent of the total registered FDI. Meanwhile, 335 existing projects were allowed to raise their investments by more than 3.07 billion USD, surging 45.6 percent over the same period last year. From January to April, foreign investors spent 2.48 billion USD buying shares or contributing capital to Vietnamese firms, down 65.3 percent year-on-year. According to the agency, FDI disbursement reached 5.15 billion USD in the four months or equivalent to 90.4 percent of the last year’s corresponding period. Foreign investors pledged to pour capital in 18 sectors, in which manufacturing and processing took the lead with nearly 6 billion USD, accounting for 48.4 percent of the total capital. It was followed by power production and distribution (3.9 billion USD); wholesale and retail (776 million USD); and real estate (665 million USD), the FIA said. Singapore was the country’s largest source of FDI as the committed volume accounted for 41 percent or 5.07 billion USD. Thailand and Japan were the runners-up with 1.46 billion USD and 1.16 billion USD, respectively, followed by mainland China, Taiwan and the Republic of Korea. Among 54 localities receiving FDI in the four-month period, the southern province of Bac Lieu ranked top with 4 billion USD. Southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province came next with 1.9 billion USD and HCM City placed third with 1.31 billion USD, followed by Hanoi capital city and Ha Nam and Binh Duong provinces. Foreign-invested sector’s exports rose by 1.5 percent against last year to 55.75 billion USD, making up 69.3 percent of the nation’s four-month export value. Meanwhile, the sector’s import value also picked up 3 percent to 46.32 billion USD, accounting for 58 percent of the nation’s import volume./. VNA