As of May 20, 2020, the total value of newly registered capital, adjusted capital and capital contribution or share purchase of foreign investors reached 13.89 billion USD, equalling 83% compared to the same period in 2019. Capital generated by FDI projects was estimated at 6.7 billion USD, equalling 91.8% compared to the same period in 2019.
Accumulated as of May 20, 2020, the whole country has 32,025 valid projects with total registered capital of 376.6 billion USD. The accumulated realized capital of FDI projects was estimated at 218.48 billion USD, equalling 58% of the total valid registered investment capital.
Details are as follows:
I. FDI INFLOWS
1. FDI attraction in the first 5 months of 2020
1.1. FDI performance:
Realized capital:
As of May 20, 2020, foreign direct investment projects were estimated to disburse 6.7 billion USD, or 91.8% compared to the same period in 2019.
Import and export performance:
Export: Export turnover of the foreign invested sector decreased both in value and the proportion of the country's export turnover compared to the same period. Export (including crude oil) reached 66.06 billion USD, a drop of 6.9% over the same period, accounting for 66.5% of export turnover. Export excluding crude oil was 65.37 billion USD, down by 6.7% compared to the same period in 2019, accounting for 65.8% of national export turnover in the first 5 months of 2020.
Import: Import of the FDI sector was 55.54 billion USD, a fall of 4.3% over the same period and accounting for 57% of the national import turnover.
Despite a decrease compared to the same period, in the first 5 months of 2020, the FDI sector still had a trade surplus of 10.5 billion USD including crude oil and a trade surplus of 9.8 billion USD excluding crude oil, offsetting the trade deficit of 8.6 billion USD and helping the country to gain a trade surplus of 1.88 billion USD.
As of May 20, 2020, the total value of newly registered capital, adjusted capital and capital contribution and share purchase by foreign investors reached 13.89 billion USD, a plunge of 17% compared to the same period in 2019. Although the newly registered capital and adjusted capital increased over the same period, the capital made by foreign investors in the form of capital contribution and share purchase continued to decline sharply, reducing the total investment capital attracted in the first 5 months.
However, in terms of value, the registered capital in the first 5 months of 2020 still increased compared to the same time in the period of 2016-2018 (up by 40.3%, 11.5% and 36.7 % compared to 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively).
Of which:
Newly registered capital: There were 1,212 new projects granted with investment certificates (down by 10.1% over the same period). Total registered capital reached 7.44 billion USD (up by 15.2% over the same period last year). The increase in investment is thanks to the new LNG project which was granted with an investment certificate worth 4 billion USD, accounting for 53.8% of the total registered capital in the first 5 months of the year. Large projects have pushed the average project size up over the same period, from 4.7 million USD in 2019 to 6.1 million USD in 2020.
Adjusted capital: There were 436 times of projects registered for adjustment of investment capital (down by 13.7% over the same period), the total additional registered capital reached over 3.45 billion USD (up by 31.4% compared to the same period last year). The adjusted capital increased in 5 months thanks to the capital expansion of Vietnam Southern Petrochemical Complex Project in Ba Ria - Vung Tau (Thailand) by 1,386 billion USD.
Capital contribution, share purchase: There were 3,528 times of capital contribution and share purchase by foreign investors (up by 11.6% over the same period) with total value of contributed capital worth 2.99 billion USD (equal to 39.1% compared to the same period last year). Although the number of times of capital contribution and share purchase increased, the size of capital contribution is small, only 0.85 million USD/capital contribution on average, much smaller than the average size in the first 5 months of 2019. The portion of capital contribution and share purchase in the total registered investment capital also decreased significantly compared to the same period in 2019 (from 45.7% in the first 5 months of 2019 to 21.5% in the 5 months of 2020).
(Detailed tables in Appendix I attached to the report).
By sector:
Foreign investors have invested in 18 sectors, of which the processing and manufacturing led with total investment capital of 6.88 billion USD, accounting for 49.5% of the total registered investment capital. Electricity production and distribution ranked second with investment capital of 3.92 billion USD, accounting for 28.3% of total registered investment capital. This is followed by retail and real estate business with the total registered capital of 945 million USD and 801 million USD. The rest are other sectors.
By counterpart:
There are 96 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. Singapore led with total investment of 5.31 billion USD, accounting for 38.2% of total investment capital into Vietnam; Thailand ranked second with total investment of 1.45 billion USD, accounting for 10.5% of total investment capital. China ranked third with a total registered investment of 1.27 billion USD, accounting for 9.1% of total investment capital. Next were Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.
In terms of the number of projects, South Korea ranked first (325 projects); China ranked second (176 projects); Japan ranked third (133 projects); Hong Kong ranked fourth (113 projects).
By location:
Foreign investors invested in 57 provinces and cities across the country. Bac Lieu continued to lead with a large project worth 4 billion USD, accounting for 28.8% of total registered investment capital. Ba Ria - Vung Tau ranked second with 1.9 billion USD, accounting for 13.9% of total investment capital. Ho Chi Minh City ranked third with 1.6 billion USD, accounting for 11.5% of total investment capital (of which investment in the form of capital contribution, share purchase accounted for a large proportion or 76.9% of the City’s total investment capital, 54.5% of the turns of capital contribution, share purchase and 41.2% of the nationwide value of capital contribution). Next are Hanoi, Ha Nam, and Binh Duong.
Regarding the number of projects, Ho Chi Minh City led the list (450 projects); Hanoi ranked second (258 projects); Bac Ninh ranked third (78 projects).
(Detailed tables in Appendix II attached to the report).
Several major projects in May and the first 5 months of 2020:
In May 2020, particularly:
(1) Regina Miracle International Vietnam Project (Hong Kong) in Hai Phong aimed at producing garment with investment capital expanded by 140 million USD.
(2) Project of mechanical product factory (Taiwan) in Quang Ninh with total investment of 50 million USD.
(3) Powerway Vietnam Alloy Factory (China) in Bac Giang with total investment of 50 million USD.
In the first 5 months of 2020:
(1) Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Plant Project under the operation of Bac Lieu LNG Thermal Power Centre (Singapore) having total registered investment capital of 4 billion USD with the goal of producing electricity from liquefied natural gas (granted with a certificate of competency on January 16, 2020).
(2) The South Vietnam Petrochemical Complex Project (Thailand) in Ba Ria - Vung Tau with an increase of adjusted investment capital by 1,386 billion USD on April 18, 2020
(3) Radian Jinyu Tire Manufacturing Plant Project (Vietnam) with total investment of 300 million USD aimed at producing full steel TBR tires invested by Chinese investors in Tay Ninh (granted with a certificate of investment on January 1, 2020).
(4) Victory Project - A factory manufacturing high-tech electronic products in Dong Van, Ha Nam (Taiwan), worth 273 million USD with the goal of manufacturing and assembling electronic computer and computer auxiliary equipment, production of civil electronic audio and visual equipment (granted with a certificate of competency on April 1, 2020)
(5) Office Building project at 29 Lieu Giai (Singapore) with an increase of adjusted investment capital by 246 million USD on March 31, 2020.
2. FDI attraction performance in May 2020
In May 2020 only, the whole country attracted US $ 1.55 billion of newly registered capital, expanded investment and capital contribution and share purchase from foreign investors, equivalent to 72.4% of the investment capital attracted in the same period last year, accounting for 11.2% of the total investment capital in the first 5 months, equivalent to 41.1% compared to April, 74.6% compared to March and up by 36.3% compared to February 2020.
Of which:
- 228 projects were newly granted with certificates of investment; total registered capital reached 660.2 million USD, an equivalent of nearly 59.3% compared to the same period in 2019 and 42.5% of total investment capital in the month. Although the number of newly registered investment projects in May increased slightly compared to April, most of them were small-size projects, a few large projects registered. As a result, the total registered investment capital in May was only 52.9% compared to April 2020.
- 101 times of expanded projects made a rise of registered capital by nearly 381.1 million USD, equalling 73.5% compared to the same period in 2019, accounting for 24.5% of the total investment capital in the month. Similar to newly registered capital, expanded investment capital in May dropped sharply (by 81%) compared to April 2020 although the number of expansions increased as many large projects expanded in April.
- 318 times of capital contribution and share purchase were made by foreign investors, the total value of contributed capital was nearly 512 million USD, equalling 99.5% over the same period in 2019, a slight decrease (2%) compared to April 2020 and accounting for nearly 33% of the total capital investment in the month.
3. Evaluation of the FDI performance in May and the first 5 months of 2020
- Investment capital in May decreased compared to the same period last year and compared to the first months of the year, but the size of new investment projects increased. If excluding the big 4 billion USD project in Bac Lieu, the average capital size in May reached 2.9 million USD/project, a rise of 41.5%, 29.1% and 62.1% compared to March, February and January 2020 respectively (only lower than April 2020 as a large number of big-size projects from 50 to 300 million USD were invested in April, while May has no new projects with investment capital of more than 50 million USD).
- The Covid-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the world economy, in which production and business activities were delayed, global supply chains were disrupted, many businesses fell into difficult situation. Generated capital of FDI projects continued to decrease in the first 5 months of the year, equivalent to only 91.8% over the same period last year, yet the rate of reduction is decreasing gradually.
- The travel of investors as well as decisions of making new investment and expansion of existing foreign investment projects was also affected. The number of new projects and capital adjustments decreased over the same period. Although new investment and capital adjustment increased, most of the rise was thanks to large projects, which had been submitted and negotiated for a long time before. If excluding large projects of over 1 billion USD, the total newly, adjusted and contributed capital made by foreign investors in the first 5 months of 2020 would be equal to 66% of the same period last year.
- The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic continued to affect import and export turnover nationwide. Although the FDI sector still saw a trade surplus of 10.5 billion USD and contributed to the surplus of the country's trade balance, the import-export turnover still declined compared to the same period.
- In the first 5 months of the year and especially in May, thousands of Korean experts and hundreds of experts from Hong Kong and Japan were assisted to enter Vietnam to maintain and expand production.
4. Accumulated foreign direct investment as of May 20, 2020
Accumulated as of May 20, 2020, the whole country had 32,025 valid projects with total registered capital of nearly 376.6 billion USD. The accumulated realized capital of FDI projects was estimated at 218.48 billion USD, equalling 58% of the total valid registered capital.
- By sector: Foreign investors have invested in 19/21 branches in the national economic classification system, of which the processing and manufacturing sector accounts for the highest proportion of 220.3 billion USD, or 58.5% of total investment capital, followed by real estate business with 58.3 billion USD or 15.5% of total investment capital); electricity production and distribution with 27.5 billion USD (capturing 7.3% of total investment capital).
- By counterpart: There are 136 countries and territories having investment projects in Vietnam, in which, South Korea ranked first with total registered capital of 68.2 billion USD or 18.1% of total investment capital. Japan ranked second with 59.9 billion USD (almost 15.9% of total investment capital), followed by Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
- By location: Foreign investment has been present in all 63 provinces and cities nationwide, of which Ho Chi Minh City is still the leading province in attracting foreign investment with 47.6 billion USD (accounting for 12.6% of total investment); followed by Hanoi with 37.6 billion USD (nearly 10% of total investment capital); Binh Duong with 34.8 billion USD (9.2% of total investment capital).
(Detailed tables in Appendix III attached to the report)
II. FDI OUTFLOWS
In the first 5 months of 2020, Vietnam’s total newly registered investment and expanded investment outflows were 180.7 million USD, equivalent to 98.7% of the same period in 2019. Of which 60 projects were newly registered with total investment of nearly 161.9 million USD (almost 1.7 times higher than the same period) and 11 times of investment adjustment with capital gain of 18.8 million USD (or 22.2% compared to the same period in 2019). Vietnam's investment outflows in May increased sharply after a sharp decline in the first 4 months of the year thanks to a large project of Masan Tungsten Co., Ltd. (Germany) which was granted with a certificate of overseas investment registration worth 91.5 million USD.
In May 2020 in particular, 15 projects were granted with new investment certificates and 2 times of projects were expanded with the total new and additional investment capital of 111.76 million USD, 3.3 times higher than the same period last year.
Vietnamese investors have invested in 14 sectors abroad. In which, processing and manufacturing led the list with 3 newly granted projects and 2 times of capital adjustment obtaining total registered capital of 100.5 million USD, accounting for 55.6%. Wholesale and retail ranked second with total investment capital of 31.4 million USD, accounting for 17.4%; followed by accommodation and catering services, professional activities, science and technology.
There are 18 countries and territories receiving investment from Vietnam in the first 5 months of 2020. Leading is Germany with 4 new investment projects worth 92.61 million USD, accounting for 51.3 % total investment. The United States ranked second with 21.72 million USD, accounting for nearly 12%. Next are Myanmar, Singapore and Cambodia.
(Detailed tables in Appendix IV attached to the report)
Ministry of Planning and Investment