HCMC – The disbursement of capital for foreign direct investment (FDI) projects has returned to an upward trend this month, with a total of US$1.55 billion, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

This figure is US$250 million higher than in April. It has also inched up by US$150 million and US$700 million against the figures recorded in March and February, respectively. The decline of FDI disbursement in the previous months was attributed to the coronavirus pandemic and Vietnam’s social distancing measures to curb the spread of the disease. The FDI disbursement rise in May indicated that foreign investors are confident in Vietnam’s efforts to contain Covid-19 and have thus taken steps to accelerate capital disbursement to roll out new or suspending projects. The capital disbursed to FDI projects this month has surpassed the total amount of freshly pledged capital and additional funding for existing projects, at some US$1 billion. Even if US$512 million in funding from capital contributions and stake purchases conducted by foreign investors is included, the new figure is still not higher than the capital disbursement in May. In the year to May, foreign investors poured some US$6.7 billion into projects nationwide, dropping around US$600 million over the same period last year. According to the ministry’s Foreign Investment Agency, roughly 31,900 FDI projects remain active to date, with total registered capital exceeding US$373 billion. Given the difficulties in investment promotion activities, Phan Huu Thang, former head of the Foreign Investment Agency, noted that favorable conditions should be created for foreign investors of licensed yet incomplete projects so they will spend more money to continue the execution of the projects.

By Le Hoang