Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in Vietnam may top US$9 billion this year, higher than the record $8.6 billion set in 1995, after government efforts to improve the domestic business climate.

The Planning and Investment Ministry reported the country attracted $8.27 billion in fresh FDI to date.

The FDI inflow in the January-October period shows impressive growth of 60.7 percent year-on-year.

November was the most successful month of the year with $960 million in FDI, including $117 million in capital pumped into ongoing projects.

The ministry attributed the country’s WTO accession and success in APEC organization to the impressive pay-off.

According to the ministry, November saw 80 new projects granted licenses with a total capital of $843 million, raising the total pledged in new projects so far this year to $6.15 billion.

There were also 439 projects permitted to scale up capital by a combined $2.12 billion.

The country’s fresh capital valued at $8.27 billion to date beats the year’s target of $6.5 billion, the ministry said.

There have been more large-scale projects licensed in the year, driving the average capital per project to $8.2 million compared to $7.2 million over the same period last year.

The ministry forecast that FDI flow is forecast, as it had received license applications for several highly feasible projects, which could be permitted in what’s left of this year.

The Republic of Korea was the top foreign investor in Vietnam in the year so far, making up 31.4 percent of the total committed FDI.

Hong Kong and the US were runner-ups with 13.6 percent and 10.3 percent respectively.

The amount of realized FDI in the period is forecast at $3.6 billion, a year-on-year jump of 18.7 percent.

Foreign-invested firms reported total revenues of $2 billion in November, totaling $27.2 billion in the first 11 months, while export earnings in November reached $1.5 billion and $13.4 billion in Jan-Nov period.

The southern hub Ho Chi Minh City alone attracted $2.08 billion worth of FDI projects, a year-on-year increase of 160 percent.

Of the figure, more than $1.38 billion was injected into fresh projects, with the balance going into ongoing projects.

Over half of the fresh projects are in the service sector, including resorts, hotels, and goods distribution.

Source: Thanh Nien