Pandemic drags FDI down by 7 pct

By Dat Nguyen July 28, 2020 | 09:28 pm PT

A woman welds a table at a furniture factory outside Hanoi, April 5, 2018. Photo by Reuters/Kham.

Vietnam saw $18.8 billion in foreign direct investment pledges in the first seven months of the year, a 6.9 percent fall year-on-year.

The Foreign Investment Agency said the global economy has been hit badly by the coronavirus pandemic while investors have been unable to travel due to restrictions.

Of the amount, $9.46 billion went into new projects, a 14.4 percent rise, including $4 billion invested in a liquefied natural gas-fired power plant in the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu with a capacity of 3,200 MW by a Singaporean company.

More than $4.7 billion, up 37.7 percent, went into over 600 existing projects, including $1.39 billion in Long Son Petrochemicals in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau by its Thai owner.

Foreign investors picked up stakes worth $4.64 billion in companies, a 45.6 percent decline.

The FDI came from 104 countries and territories. Singapore led with $6.44 billion followed by South Korea, mainland China, Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan.

The FDI went into 18 sectors. Manufacturing led with nearly half the investment followed by power, real estate and retail.

Bac Lieu Province attracted 21 percent of the investment followed by Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Binh Duong, and Hai Phong.

In 2019, FDI pledges for new projects, capital supplements and stake acquisitions in Vietnam rose 7.2 percent year-on-year to $38 billion, marking a 10-year high.