Actual FDI in Vietnam down 2% to US$20 billion in 2020

Disbursement of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam totaled nearly US$20 billion in 2020, representing a decline of 2% year-on-year, a report of the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment has shown.

Production at Garment 10 for exports. Photo: Thanh Hai.

Meanwhile, FDI commitments fell 25% year-on-year to US$28.5 billion this year.  

Year to December 20, 2,523 new projects have been approved with total registered capital of US$14.6 billion, down 35% in the number of projects and 12.5% in capital year-on-year, while 1,140 existing projects have been injected an additional US$6.4 billion, up 10.6% in capital. 

According to the report, injections of US$1.38 billion in the Long Son Petrochemical Complex project in Ba Ria – Vung Tau province and US$774 million in the West Lake Urban project in Hanoi have directly contributed to a rise in capital addition.

During this period, 6,141 projects had nearly US$7.5 billion in capital contributed by foreign investors, down 51.7% in value year-on-year.

Investors have poured money into 18 fields and sectors, in which manufacturing and processing led the pack with investment capital of over US$7.2 billion, accounting for 49.1% of total registered capital. Electricity production and supply came second with US$5.1 billion, or 34.7%.

The report added that out of 79 countries and territories having fresh projects in Vietnam in 2020, Singapore took the lead with US$6.02 billion, or 42% of the total registered FDI for new projects, followed by China with US$1.6 billion, or 10.8% and Taiwan (China) with US$1.5 billion, or 10.3%.

In 2020, Vietnam has registered 119 investment projects abroad with registered capital of US$318 million. Among 29 countries and territories receiving investment capital from Vietnam, Laos led the pack with US$181.3 million, or 30.7% of the total, followed by Australia with US$101.8 million (17.2%), and Germany with US$92.6 million, or 15.7%.

Besides the US$4-billion LNG plant project financed by a Singaporean investor, some other big-ticket projects in January-November include a tire manufacturing plant worth US$300 million by a Chinese investor in Tay Ninh province; an additional injection of US$138 million into a Chinese-invested radial tire production facility; an addition of US$75.2 million to Japan's Sews-components Vietnam manufacturing plant for electronic and auto parts; and Hong Kong's Ce Link Vietnam 2 plant worth US$49.8 million in Bac Giang for electronic parts and products.