Processing - manufacturing, real estate top FDI attraction in nine months

As of September 20, registered FDI totalled 18.7 billion USD, down 15.3 percent year on year, according to the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI).

Real estate ranks second in terms of FDI attraction in the first nine months of 2022 (Illustrative image: Vingroup)

The figure includes 7.12 billion USD poured into 1,355 new projects, respectively falling 43 percent and rising 11.8 percent. More than 8.3 billion USD was poured into 769 existing projects, up 29.9 percent and 13.4 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, foreign investors spent over 3.28 billion USD on purchasing shares in Vietnamese companies, up 1.9 percent.

The processing and manufacturing sector continued to take the lead with over 12.1 billion USD in FDI, accounting for 64.6 percent of total registered capital. It was followed by real estate with over 3.5 billion USD, or nearly 19 percent.

The MPI said though newly registered investment has yet to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts and recent global uncertainties, the capital added to existing projects and spent on share purchases have been on the rise.

In the first nine months, Vietnam recorded investment from 97 countries and territories. Singapore was the largest source of FDI during the period with more than 4.75 billion USD (equivalent to 25.3 percent of the total but still down 24.3 percent from a year earlier). The Republic of Korea ranked second (3.8 billion USD, equivalent to 20.3 percent, down 2.38 percent) and Japan third (1.9 billion USD, equivalent to 10.2 percent).

Ho Chi Minh City was the biggest FDI destination with over 2.96 billion USD registered, making up 15.8 percent of the total and rising 26.2 percent. It was followed by southern Binh Duong province (2.7 billion USD, equivalent to 14.4 percent, up 58 percent) and northern Bac Ninh province (1.78 billion USD, equivalent to 9.5 percent, and increasing 2.1-fold).

As of September 20, Vietnam was home to 35,725 valid FDI projects worth more than 431.5 billion USD.

FDI disbursement in eight months posts record high Foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam are recovering well and focusing on production and business expansion, with disbursement reaching a record high in the first eight months of 2022, according to director of the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) Do Nhat Hoang.

High-tech FDI drives Vietnam’s economic evolution High-tech foreign investments will continue to propel Vietnam’s economic growth for years to come, Michael Kokalari, chief economist at investment fund VinaCapital, has said.

Investment in Mekong subregion expected to recover post pandemic At the 10th Mekong forum on strengthening development cooperation and economic recovery in the Mekong region on September 23, the attendants discussed ways to recover the economies of the Mekong subregion countries in collaboration with policy adjustments.