Vietnam lures over 25 billion USD in foreign investment in 11 months

Work underway on buildings in HCM City which took the lead in foreign investment attraction in 11 months of 2022. (Photo: VNA)

Vietnam attracted 25.1 billion USD in foreign investment in the first 11 months of 2022, up 0.5% month-on-month but down 5% year-on-year, the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment has said.

During the period, new capital registered in the country by foreign investors saw a yearly decline of 18% to 11.5 billion USD while their capital contributions and share purchases also declined 7% year-on-year to nearly 4.08 billion USD.

The agency underlined two factors behind the falling registered capital, which were stringent COVID-19 preventive measures early 2022 and global uncertainties.

It said strict COVID-19 preventive measures imposed in the beginning months of the year had made it more difficult for foreign investors to travel to Vietnam to seek new investment opportunities. Such hindrance held back the number of newly-registered projects in early 2022.

Global uncertainties, including geopolitical conflicts, inflationary pressures and supply chain disruptions, compounded the situation by scaling down the capital flows from big economies, especially Vietnam's partners.

One bright spot in the period was adjusted capital which surged 23.3% year-on-year to 9.54 billion USD, the FIA noted.

According to the agency, the adjusted capital continued to maintain its growth momentum, which was a signal to confirm the confidence of foreign investors in the economy and investment environment of Vietnam. Therefore, they decided to add more capital to their existing projects in the country.

Statistics from the FIA also showed that the average scale of adjusted capital per project in 11 months of 2022 increased 4.9% over the same period of last year. Notably, many projects in manufacturing of electronic and high-tech products witnessed capital added on a large scale during the reviewed period.

On the bright side, many large-scale projects had their capital adjusted up significantly in ten months. For instance, Samsung Electro-Mechanics was given two capital boosts, of 920 million USD and 267 million USD.

Samsung HCMC CE followed suit with 841 million USD. Other projects to manufacture electronics and multimedia devices in Bac Ninh, Nghe An and Hai Phong were financed with additional capital of 306 million USD, 260 million USD and 127 million USD, respectively.

At the same time, disbursed capital also witnessed a positive increase of 15% to reach 19.68 billion USD in the period, the FIA added.

From January to November, manufacturing and processing lured the lion's share of foreign investment with over 14.96 billion USD, making up 59.5% of total capital. It was followed by real estate with 4.19 billion USD, or 16.7%. Electricity production and distribution and science and technology were the runners-up with 2.26 billion USD and 1.03 billion USD, respectively.

Singapore was the top source of capital pledges in the period with 5.78 billion USD, accounting for 23% of the total. Japan came next with over 4.6 billion USD or 13% while the Republic of Korea ranked third with above 4.1 billion USD or 16.4%.

Others sources of foreign capital were China, Hong Kong (China) and Denmark.

Among cities and provinces receiving foreign capital in the period, Ho Chi Minh City led with nearly 3.54 billion USD, up 3.3% year-on-year or equivalent to 14% of the total. The southern province of Binh Duong ranked second with over 3.03 billion USD, up 45% year-on-year or accounting for 12.1% of the total.

In a recent report to the National Assembly, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said that foreign direct investment (FDI) disbursement this year could reach 21-22 billion USD, an increase of about 6.4-11.5% compared to 2021. These figures, then, meant that Vietnam's FDI attraction was rapidly moving towards recovery.

Foreign enterprises continued to recover, maintain and expand their production and business activities in Vietnam, said FIA Director Do Nhat Hoang.

Truong An Duong from Frasers Property Vietnam Co told Dau tu (Investment) newspaper that his company was keen on looking for investment opportunities in Vietnam./.