HANOI, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam is expected to attract some 16.43 billion U.S. dollars of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first nine months of 2016, posting a year-on-year decrease of 4.2 percent, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) on Monday.
Accordingly, as many as 1,820 newly-registered FDI projects worth 11.165 billion U.S. dollars were granted licenses in nine months, up 27.1 percent in volume and 1.1 percent in value year-on-year.
Meanwhile, from January to September, some 5.265 billion U.S. dollars was registered to add to 851 existing projects, down 13.9 percent in value and up 84.6 percent in volume year-on-year, said MPI's Foreign Investment Agency on its website.
At the same time, it is estimated that in nine-month period, a total of 11.02 billion U.S. dollars of FDI has been disbursed in Vietnam, up 12.4 percent year-on-year.
During the period, foreign investors have been pouring most money in industrial manufacturing and processing, with some 12.15 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 73.9 percent of total FDI attraction.
Real estate business ranks second with around 1billion U.S. dollars while expertise, science-technology activities sit third place with 649 million U.S. dollars, said the agency.
In the first nine months, among 65 countries and regions with FDI projects in Vietnam, the Republic of Korea is taking the lead with 5.58 billion U.S. dollars, followed by Singapore and Japan with respective capital registration of 1.84 billion U.S. dollars and 1.7 billion U.S. dollars.
Several major FDI projects being licensed in nine-month period include LG Display project in northern Hai Phong city with investment of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, LG Innotek project in Hai Phong with investment of 550 million U.S. dollars, and Amata project in southern Dong Nai province with investment of 309.3 million U.S. dollars among others
During January-September period, the FDI sector is likely to earn 89.471 billion U.S. dollars from exports (excluding crude oil), up 9.3 percent year-on-year, accounting for 69.7 percent of Vietnam's total export revenue.
Meanwhile, the sector spends 74.019 billion U.S. dollars on imports, up 0.9 percent year-on-year, making up 59 percent of the country's total imports.
The FDI sector is estimated to enjoy a trade surplus of 15.452 billion U.S. dollars during the period.
