Viet Nam received US$25.1 billion in foreign investment in the first 11 months, up 0.5 per cent month-on-month but down 5 per cent year-on-year, the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) has said.

During the period, new capital registered in the country by foreign investors saw a yearly decline of 18 per cent to $11.5 billion while their capital contributions and share purchases also declined 7 per cent year-on-year to nearly $4.08 billion.

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 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.

One bright spot in the period was adjusted capital which surged 23.3 per cent year-on-year to $9.54 billion, 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 Viet Nam. 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 per cent 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 and $267 million.

Samsung HCMC CE followed suit with $841 million. Other 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.

At the same time, disbursed capital also witnessed a positive increase of 15 per cent to reach $19.68 billion in the period, the FIA added.

From January to November, manufacturing and processing lured the lion's share of foreign investment with over $14.96 billion, making up 59.5 per cent of total capital. It was followed by real estate with $4.19 billion, or 16.7 per cent. Electricity production and distribution and science and technology were the runners-up with $2.26 billion and $1.03 billion, respectively.

Singapore was the top source of capital pledges in the period with $5.78 billion, accounting for 23 per cent of the total. Japan came next with over $4.6 billion or 13 per cent while South Korea ranked third with above $4.1 billion or 16.4 per cent.

Others sources of foreign capital were mainland China, Hong Kong (China) and Denmark.

Among cities and provinces receiving foreign capital in the period, HCM City led with nearly $3.54 billion, up 3.3 per cent year-on-year or equivalent to 14 per cent of the total. The southern province of Binh Duong ranked second with over $3.03 billion, up 45 per cent year-on-year or accounting for 12.1 per cent of the total.

In a recent report to the National Assembly, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said that foreign direct investment (FDI) disbursement this year could reach $21-22 billion, an increase of about 6.4-11.5 per cent compared to 2021. These figures, then, meant that Viet Nam's FDI attraction was rapidly moving towards recovery.

Foreign enterprises continued to recover, maintain and expand their production and business activities in Viet Nam, Do Nhat Hoang, director of the FIA said.

Truong An Duong from Frasers Property Vietnam Co told the Dau tu (Investment) newspaper that his company was keen on looking for investment opportunities in Viet Nam. — VNS