11-month FDI disbursement hits record high

The disbursement of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam went up 15.1% between January and November to some 19.68 billion USD, the highest 11-month figure over the past five years, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
11-month FDI disbursement hits record high

The processing and manufacturing sector made the lion share of 15.52 billion USD, accounting for 78.8% of the total number. The real estate industry recorded 1.44 billion USD, and electricity, gas, hot water, steam and air conditioner production and distribution, 1.43 billion USD.

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

VNA