The inflow of foreign investment into Vietnam hit over USUSD 2.1 billion in January, up 4.2 percent year-on-year, marking good signals for the country's investment attraction, the latest report from the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) showed.
Following the recovery from the end of 2021 after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many foreign-invested enterprises have stabilized and expanded their production and business activities. Thus, disbursement of foreign direct investment (FDI) also saw a positive increase of 6.8 percent to surpass USD 1.61 billion during the first month of this year, FIA said in its report.
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| Garment products are made by workers of South-Korean KH Vina Co in the central province of Thanh Hoa__Photo: VNA |
According to the report, up to 103 new foreign-invested projects were licensed with a total registered capital of nearly USD 388 million, 2.2 times higher than last January in terms of the number of projects but down 71 percent year-on-year in value.
Although registered investment capital decreased compared to the same period last year due to a lack of large-scale projects, an increase in the number of new investment projects showed the confidence of foreign investors in the country's investment environment, FIA said.
Meanwhile, 71 operating projects were allowed to raise their capital by USD 1.27 billion, up 54.3 percent in project number and nearly triple the level of capital seen in the same month last year.
Capital contributions and share purchases by foreign investors stood at USD 444 million, up two times over the last year's corresponding month.
Among 15 sectors receiving FDI in the first month, processing and manufacturing took the lead with over USD 1.2 billion, accounting for 58.9 percent of the total FDI. Real estate came next with USD 472 million or equivalent to 22.5 percent. Administrative sectors and supporting services; wholesale and retail were the runners-up with over USD 221 million and USD 52.5 million, respectively.
As per the data, Singapore led 33 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with total investment capital of nearly USD 666 million, making up nearly 31.7 percent of the total FDI registered in the country. However, the total investment of Singaporean investors plunged 2.2 percent year-on-year.
South Korea ranked second with over USD 481 million, up five times year-on-year or equivalent to 30 percent of the total FDI. Mainland China came third with nearly USD 451 million, down 27 percent or 21.5 percent. Other leading sources of Vietnam's FDI were from Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The capital city attracted the highest amount of FDI, with over USD 448 million, 29.9 times higher than last January, making up 21.3 percent of the total. The central province of Nghe An came second with USD 400 million or 19 percent thanks to two existing projects increasing their levels of capital. It was followed by Bac Ninh, Long An and Phu Tho.
According to FIA, foreign-invested businesses posted a trade surplus of above USD 1.6 billion in January.
As of January 20, the country was home to 34,642 valid foreign-invested projects worth nearly USD 415.6 billion. Of the sum, USD 253.2 billion or 61 percent has been disbursed.
Earlier, the Dau Tu (Investment) newspaper reported that Vietnam expected good results in FDI attraction in 2022 and following years, following optimism from many experts from the end of 2021.
FIA also commented that 2022 and the following years would be good for Vietnam with many large-scale and high-quality projects from world-leading firms.
Meanwhile, 67 percent of European businesses said that they are optimistic about the business climate in Vietnam.
At the same time, a survey by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) showed that 55.3 percent of Japanese said that they intend to expand business in Viet Nam, and only 0.3 percent plan to withdraw from Vietnam. According to the survey, which was conducted from August to September 2021, 56.2 percent of the firms expect higher profits in 2022, and only 9.6 percent predicted lower profit.
Vietnam News Agency cited Hirai Shinji, Chief Representative of JETRO in Vietnam, as saying that the Japanese firms intending to withdraw from Vietnam still hoped to return to the country when things get better.
In reality, many other firms have come back to Vietnam since the Government adopted the strategy of safely and flexibly adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The business expansion of many other foreign firms in the Southeast Asian country, including Samsung from South Korea, JAPEX from Japan and Sri Avantika Contractor from India, was also expected to lead to many other opportunities for Vietnam in FDI attraction.- (VNS/VLLF)
