Japan took the lead among 26 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with new projects worth USD2.3 billion in the first quarter of this year.

The Tokyu Binh Duong Garden City project in the southern province of Binh Duong. Photo by VNRE.

The figure accounted for 88.8% of the total foreign direct investment in the nation during the period, said the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency.

The Netherlands ranked second with new registered capital of USD46.1 million, representing 1.7% of the total FDI investment in Vietnam.

Taiwan took third place with new projects worth USD42.9 million, accounting for 1.6% of the total FDI investment.

During the last three months, several giant Japanese FDI projects were licensed. The most prominent was the Tokyu Binh Duong Garden City project in the southern province of Binh Duong worth USD1.2 billion.

Other projects include Bridgestone Tire Sales Vietnam Limited Liability Company’s USD574.8 million project in the northern port city of Haiphong and Oshima Shipbuilding Limited Company’s project in the central province of Khanh Hoa costing USD180 million.

Thanks to Japanese investment, these three localities also took lead in FDI attraction during the first quarter of this year.

Binh Duong ranked first with a newly registered capital of USD1.36 billion. It was followed by Haiphong with USD605 million and Khanh Hoa with USD180 million.

Investment in real estate rebounds

As of March 20, cities and provinces across Vietnam recorded a total 120 new investment projects worth USD2.26 billion, down 22.8% from a year earlier.

Investment of 29 projects had been increased by a combined USD368 million during the period.

FDI disbursement reached USD2.52 billion during the time, a fall of 0.8% against the same period last year.

The real estate industry attracted several new investment projects during the period with the biggest one valued at USD1.2 billion in Binh Duong.

A total of 51 new projects were licensed for the manufacturing and processing industries.