Real foreign investment and M&A capital up despite nominal drop

Disbursed FDI and foreign M&A spending increased since 2017

According to the statistics published by the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as of December 20, foreign investors invested $35.46 billion, equalling 98.8 per cent of the figure from last year. Meanwhile, the total disbursed capital reached $19.1 billion, up 9.1 per cent on-year.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) commitments were $25.57 billion for the whole year. Of the amount, newly-registered projects accounted for $17.98 billion, while investors added $7.59 billion to existing projects, equalling 84.5 and 90.3 per cent of last year’s performance.

Besides, foreign investors spent $4.79 billion on acquiring 6,496 M&A deals in Vietnamese companies, shooting up 59.8 per cent on-year.

Manufacturing and processing continued to be the most appealing sector by attracting $16.58 billion from January to December, accounting for 46.7 per cent of the total investment inflow. This was followed by real estate trading with $6.6 billion (18.6 per cent) and retail and wholesale with $3.67 billion (10.3 per cent).

Japan remained the leading foreign investor by pouring $8.59 billion into Vietnam during the period, making up nearly 24.2 per cent of the total FDI registered in the country. South Korea ranked second with $7.2 billion (20.3 per cent), while Singapore came next with $5 billion (14.2 per cent).

According to the FIA, foreign investors were present in 59 cities and provinces. Of them, the capital city lured the largest share, with $7.5 billion, accounting for 21.2 per cent. The southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City and the southern province of Haiphong were the runners-up with $5.9 billion (16.7 per cent) and $3.1 billion (8.7 per cent).

Regarding Vietnam’s overseas investment, this year, Vietnamese businesses invested $432.1 million into 184 projects aboard, statistics from FIA revealed.

As much as $376.1 million was pumped into 149 new overseas projects, while the rest was earmarked for 35 existing ones.

As per the data, finance and banking garnered the most interest from Vietnamese investors, accounting for 24.4 per cent of their total investments, or $105.7 million.

Wholesale and retail came next with $82.9 million ($19.1 per cent), followed by agro-forestry-fisheries with $52.3 million (12.1 per cent).

Vietnamese businesses invested in 32 countries and territories. Among them, Laos lured the lion’s share of Vietnamese investments, with 30 per cent or $81.5 million. Other countries included Australia, Slovakia, Cuba, Cambodia, and Myanmar.