Foreign capital inflows fell whereas realised capital rose in the first 10 months of 2022.
According to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA), Ministry of Planning and Investment, the total newly-registered capital, adjusted capital, and capital contribution and share purchase stood at US$22.46 billion by October 20, down 5.4 per cent year-on-year.
Specifically, 1,570 projects were granted investment registration certificates during the period, with total registered capital of $9.93 billion, down 23.7 per cent against last year.
One bright spot was realised capital, which topped $17.45 billion in the first ten months of the year, 15.2 per cent higher than the same period last year. It was expected to hit $22 billion by year-end.
Adjusted capital, as a single item itself, reached over $8.74 billion, up 23.3 per cent year-on-year. Roughly 880 projects registered for capital adjustment during the ten-month period.
There were 2,997 capital contributions and share purchases by late October, equivalent to $3.97 billion. The figure was 4.5 per cent higher than that in 2021.
FIA Director Do Nhat Hoang underlined two factors behind the falling registered capital, which are stringent COVID-19 preventive measures and global uncertainties.
He said strict COVID-19 preventive measures had made it more difficult for foreign investors to travel to Viet Nam 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 Viet Nam's partners.
On the bright side, many large-scale projects had their capital adjusted up significantly in ten months. For instance, Samsung Electro-Mechanics Vietnam was given two capital boosts, of $920 million and $267 million.
Samsung HCMC CE followed suit with $841 million. The projects to manufacture electronics and multimedia devices in Bac Ninh, Nghe An and Hai Phong provinces were financed with additional capital of $306 million, $260 million and $127 million, respectively.
The rise in additional capital indicates that foreign investors have great confidence in Viet Nam's economic growth and business environment.
The FIA census also showed that foreign investors invested in 18 out of 21 sectors of the economy during the period. Of which, processing and manufacturing took the lead in terms of foreign investment, with $12.9 billion.
Realty estate came next with a total investment of $3.9 billion, followed by electricity production and distribution with $928 million and scientific and technological activities with $835 million.
It is also worth noting that wholesale and retail, processing and manufacturing, and scientific and technological activities were the sectors with the largest number of newly-registered projects, accounting for 29.9 per cent, 24.8 per cent and 16.7 per cent of the total number of newly-register projects in the country.
By partners, 103 countries and territories poured money into Viet Nam over the year. Singapore was on top with $5.3 billion, accounting for 23.8 per cent of the total foreign investment into the country.
Japan came second with $4.2 billion and South Korea came third with $3.9 billion. Other names further down the list included China, Hong Kong (China) and Denmark.
Despite its third position regarding investment capital, South Korea topped the list of investors when it comes to the number of newly-registered and capital-adjusted projects in the ten-month period. — VNS