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HÀ NỘI — The foreign investment is looking up, as the total capital pledged for investment in the country until August 20 was nearly equal to that for the entire 2016.

The reports from the Foreign Investment Agency showed that foreign investors had registered to invest US$23.36 billion into Việt Nam in the January-August 20 period, up 45.1 per cent year-on-year.

Last year, Việt Nam reported a total registered capital of $24.3 billion from foreign investors, up 7.1 per cent against the previous year.

From the amount pledged this year, $13.45 billion came from 1,624 new licensed projects, a 37.4 per cent rise; and $6.4 billion was the additional capital for 773 existing projects, up 40.2 per cent. The remaining was from the capital contribution and share purchase of foreign investors.

According to the agency, the disbursement of the capital in the first eight months of this year by foreign investors was also positive, with a growth rate of 5.1 per cent year-on-year to $10.3 billion.

In the period between January and August, foreign investors poured the capital into 18 industries, of which the manufacturing and processing industry was the most attractive destination with a total capital of $11.69 billion, equal to some 50 per cent of the country’s total registered capital. However, the ratio was still lower than that in the previous years, when the industry often attracted some 70 per cent of the country’s total registered capital.

This was followed by the power production and trading industry with $5.36 billion, accounting for 22.9 per cent of the country’s total registered capital.

The mining industry was ranked the third, as its registered capital rose 5.5 per cent to $1.28 billion.

The first eight months of the year saw 98 countries and territories wanting to invest in Việt Nam, of which the Republic of Korea topped the list with a registered capital of more than $6 billion, accounting for 25.7 per cent of the country’s total registered capital. Japan and Singapore followed with $5.74 billion and $3.92 billion, making up 24.58 per cent and 16.8 per cent of the total capital, respectively.

The business performance of the foreign firms was also optimistic during the period. Their exports, including crude oil, rose 15.5 per cent to $95.66 billion, accounting for 71.6 per cent of the country’s total export revenue during the period.

With an import value of $81.38 billion, foreign firms gained a trade surplus of $14.28 billion during the period.