Vietnam Jan-May FDI Disbursement +1.6% on Year

FDI is a major source of U.S. dollars for Vietnam, along with exports, remittances and official development assistance, and accounts for a quarter of Vietnam’s total investment.

FDI pledges for the January-May period rose 8.9% from a year earlier to $8.52 billion, the ministry said in a statement. Vietnam granted investment licenses to 398 new FDI projects and allowed 160 existing projects to expand their operations in the period.

Japan was the largest source of FDI pledges for the period, followed by Singapore and Russia, the ministry said, adding that 89% of the new pledges are for manufacturing projects and 4.5% for property projects.

The largest FDI projects receiving investment licenses in the five-month period include a $2 billion electronics complex by Samsung Electronics, a $1 billion bus factory by Russia’s Bus Industrial Center and a $240 million building material plant by Thailand’s Prime Group.

Non-oil export revenues of FDI companies operating in Vietnam totaled $29.7 billion in the period, up 25.8% from a year earlier and accounting for 60% of Vietnam’s total export revenue, the ministry said. Their key exports included electronics, garments and footwear.

The FDI sector recorded a trade surplus of $4.07 billion in the first five months, while the country incurred a trade deficit of $1.9 billion.

The ministry said earlier this year that Vietnam hopes to disburse $10.5 billion-$11 billion of FDI in 2013 compared with $10.46 billion last year. FDI pledges for the year are expected to total $13 billion-$14 billion this year, compared with $13.01 billion last year.

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2013/05/27/vietnam-jan-may-fdi-disbursement-16-on-year-at-458-billion/#ixzz2Ufy8udIG