Foreign investment falls 23.6 percent in first two months

The inflow of foreign investment into Vietnam experienced a year-on-year drop of 23.6 percent in the first two months of the year to 6.47 billion USD, according to a report from the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Foreign Trade Agency.

Disbursement of foreign capital declined 5 percent to 2.45 billion USD in the period.

As many as 500 new projects received investment licenses, with total registered capital of 5 billion USD, doubling the amount recorded the same time last year.

Singapore’s Delta Offshore Energy Pte Ltd Co was the largest investor with its liquefied natural gas-fired (LNG) power plant valued at 4 billion USD in the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu.

There were 151 projects registering to adjust their capital. Total additional capital fell nearly 25 percent to 638.1 million USD.

Capital contributions and share purchases by foreign investors fell substantially by 84 percent to 827.3 million USD.

From January-February, most foreign capital was injected into 18 sectors. Power production attracted the largest amount of investment with 3.89 billion USD, followed by the processing and manufacturing sector (1.76 billion USD), wholesale and retail sales (195 million USD), and technology and science (180 million USD).

Up to 73 countries and territories have invested in Vietnam in the first two months of 2020. The largest investors included Singapore (4.12 billion USD), China (720.4 million USD), and the Republic of Korea (425.4 million USD)./.