APEC impact and Japanese wave post impressive investment figures

This figure comes from the impressive surge of Japanese investment and the positive impact of the APEC event in the central city of Danang in early November.

Impressive investments from Japan

According to data released by the Foreign Investment Agency of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, US$33.09 billion was registered as FDI capital in Vietnam, increasing by 82.8% over the same period of 2016.

Last month, FIA announced the figure of US$28 billion of registered FDI capital within the first ten months—reaching the annual target two months early, to general surprise. This means registered FDI capital rose by US$4.85 billion within a single month.

This growth comes mainly from two large-scale projects that have been granted investment certificates in November. The first one is a US$885.85-million smart complex at Functional Area No. 2A of Thu Thiem urban area (Ho Chi Minh City) invested by Lotte Group (Korea). The second one is Sumimoto Corporation’s (Japan) Van Phong 1 BOT coal-fired thermal power plant carrying the price-tag of US$2.58 billion.

As a result, Japanese investors once again exceeded Korean rivals to become the first-ranking investor among the nations and territories investing in Vietnam within the 11 months of this year.

In additional to Van Phong 1, they also registered to invest in other projects valued at billions of dollars, including the US$2.79-billion Nghi Son 2 thermal power plant (in the central province of Thanh Hoa) and the US$1.27-billion Lot B-O Mon gas pipeline project. In the first 11 months, Japanese investors registered to invest as much as US$8.94 billion in Vietnam, while Korean investors rank second with US8.18 billion.

Positive impact of APEC

At the press conference following the 2017 APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in early-November, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh announced that as many as 121 arrangements with a total value of over US$20 billion were signed between leading corporations over the world and Vietnamese businesses.

Van Phong 1 coal-fired thermal power plant received its investment certificate during this time and a series of arrangements signed by representatives of Vietnam and Japan with a total value of US$5 billion.

Besides Japan, Vietnamese businesses signed a series of commercial arrangements with US partners with a total value of US$12 billion, including the US$1.5-billion memorandum of understanding on engine maintenance and repair signed by Vietnam Airlines and Pratt & Whitney and the US$1.3-billion Son My natural liquefied gas terminal project.

APEC is a good opportunity for Vietnam to attract investment capital from the well-known foreign investors attending the APEC 2017.

In the first 11 months, US$33 billion of foreign investment capital arrived to Vietnam, including US$27.8 billion of FDI capital, which is significant figure. Disbursed capital hit over US$16 billion, raising 11% compared to the same period last year.

The trend shows no signs of stopping and foreign investment capital may increase sharply to produce a breakthrough in 2018.