Despite the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into the nation during the past eight months of the year reached roughly US$16.8 billion, thereby affirming foreign investors’ trust in the Vietnamese investment climate.
This figure is equal to 87.7% compared to the same period from last year, according to figures given by the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Despite newly-registered capital not having fully recovered due to anti-epidemic measures put in place last year, adjusted capital with capital contribution and share purchases made by foreign investors have positively increased by 50.7% and 3.6%, respectively.
Specifically, a total of 1,135 new projects were granted investment registration certificates throughout the eight-month period, with a total registered capital of over US$6.35 billion, representing a decline of 43.9% compared to the same period from last year.
The FIA pointed out that, although newly-registered capital in in the reviewed period decreased compared to last year’s corresponding period, the number of fresh investment projects has been increasing each month since the beginning of the year, reaching the level the highest in August.
In line with this, the number of newly-registered projects in the initial eight months of the year was equivalent to that of the same period recorded last year.
Experts attribute the decline in newly-registered capital to the lack of large-scale projects with investment capital of over US$100 million and anti-pandemic measures put in place to fight COVID-19.
A combination of these factors has made it difficult for foreign investors to move to the Vietnamese market to explore investment opportunities or conduct registration formalities for investment projects during the last months of last year.
In contrast to the new registration trend, there were 676 projects registering to adjust their investment capital, up 5.8% on-year, with total additional registered capital reaching over US$7.5 billion, up 50.7% on-year.
According to details given by the FIA, the increase of 50.7% in additional registered capital represents an impressive figure, thereby confirming the confidence of foreign investors in the Vietnamese investment environment
Most notably, the majority of added capital inflows were poured into manufacturing projects which launch electronic and high-tech products.
Foreign financiers have invested in 18 industries out of 21 national economic sectors, of which, the processing and manufacturing industry takes the lead with a total investment of over US$10.7 billion, duly accounting for 63.9% of the total registered investment capital.
Moreover, the real estate sector ranked second with total investment capital of over US$3.3 billion, followed by science and technology, along with information and communication, with nearly US$620.8 million and $518.9 million, respectively.
Singapore retains its leading position in terms of FDI attraction with a total investment of over US$4.53 billion, thereby accounting for 27% of total investment capital in the Vietnamese market, followed by the Republic of Korea with nearly US$3.5 billion.
The disbursement capital in the reviewed period reached US$12.8 billion, up 10.5% against the same period from 2021 and up 0.3 percentage points compared to the first seven months of the year.
Local enterprises are constantly recovering, maintaining, and expanding both production and business activities moving into the post-pandemic period, the FIA noted.
VOV
