According to a report by the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Binh Duong took the lead in FDI attraction in the first four months of 2012. Japan has so far emerged as Vietnam’s biggest foreign investor, occupying more than 67% of the country’s total registered foreign capital. Currently, there are many large-scale Japanese-invested projects flowing into Binh Duong.
In the first four months of the year, Binh Duong attracted US$1.58bln in FDI capital or 37.2% of the country’s total registered foreign capital, followed by Hai Phong with US$664.3mln or 15.6% of total and HCM city with US$459.8mln
The Southeastern region led country in FDI attraction with
US$2.23bln or 52.5% of the country’s
total registered capital. The Song Hong (Red River)
Delta region placed second with US$1.54blb or 36.1% of the country’s total
registered capital. 
The ground-breaking ceremony of the US$1.2bln-Tokyun project in Binh Duong new city
But, as of April 20, HCM city took the lead in FDI attraction with 4,023 projects capitalized at US$32bln, followed by Ba Ria-Vung Tau with 279 projects of US$25.9bln, Ha Noi with 2,268 projects totaling US$23.6bln, Dong Nai with 1,082 projects valued at more than US$18bln, Binh Duong with 2,151 projects capitalized at more than US$ 16.7bln…
Some large-scale FDI projects were also granted investment licenses in the first months of the year. The Tokyu project turned Binh Duong into the province in the country having the most registered FDI capital, at US$1.2 bln, followed by Hai Phong, Quang Ninh and Ninh Binh.
Out of 32 nations and territories, Japan was the leading source of foreign investment, pumping US$2.86 bln into Viet Nam in the first four months. It was followed by the British Virgin Islands, which invested US$438 mln and Hong Kong, US$351 mln.
FDI disbursements remained stable. US$ 1.09 billion was disbursed by foreign-invested businesses in April, taking the total in January-April to US$3.61 billion, equivalent to the same period last month, according to the Foreign Investment Agency of the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
In the period, the whole country also granted investment licenses to 169 new FDI projects with a total registered capital of US$3.09bln, or 72.6% compared to the same period of 2011. There were 73 capital-increasing projects with US$1.16bln or 59.6% compared to the same period of 2011.
Thus, the whole country lured around US$4.267 bln of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first four months of the year, posting a year-on-year increase of about 70%, according to the General Statistics Office.
Processing and manufacturing surpassed real estate to become the most attractive sector to foreign investors. It was worth US$2.3 bln, accounting for 55.6% of the total FDI.
The real estate sector ranked second with US$1.57 bln, making up 37% of the total FDI, while the transport and storage sectors came third, worth US$180 mln.
Reported by K.Tan-Translated by K.T
