Ho Chi Minh City, the southern economic hub, attracted USD 5.04 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first 10 months of 2017, a two-fold year-on-year increase

According to the municipal Department of Planning and Investment, in the period, there were 681 newly-registered projects totalling USD 1.89 billion, while USD 703.4 million was added to 184 existing projects.

Photo: VNA

About 1840 foreign investors were licensed to pour USD 2.43 billion into buying stakes and contributing charter capital to existing companies. Among sectors, real estate attracted the most FDI with USD 1.01 billion, three times higher than that of the same period last year. It was followed by the manufacturing and processing sector with over USD 473 million or a year-on-year 5.7-fold rise.

The Republic of Korea remained the biggest investor in Ho Chi Minh City with USD 1.03 billion, followed by the US (USD 255 million ), Singapore (USD 137 million) and Japan ( USD 121 million).

During January-October, the city had 33,839 newly-established enterprises with a total registered capital of over VND 457 trillion (USD 20.1 billion ), up 13.2 percent in number and 88.7 percent in capital compared with the same period last year.

The city has made efforts to encourage business households to turn into businesses. To date, 1,629 business households have switched to enterprises./.

( VNF/VNA )