As of May 20th, foreign investment in Vietnam amounted to almost $10.86 billion, approaching 92.7% of the figure recorded in the same period last year. Despite a decrease in adjusted investment capital, the number of new investment projects and capital contribution to purchase shares continued to rise compared to the previous year.
In particular, 962 new investment projects were licensed, with a total registered capital exceeding $5.26 billion, up by 66.4% in terms of project numbers and by 27.8% in capital. Meanwhile, 485 investment projects registered for adjusted investment capital, marking a 22.8% increase from the same period last year. The total additional capital amounted to almost $2.28 billion, down by 59.4% YoY.
Although the number of transactions of capital contribution to purchase shares by foreign investors decreased by 5.6% compared to the same period last year, the total capital value contributed was nearly $3.32 billion, up by 67.2% YoY.
According to the Foreign Investment Agency, among the 18 out of 21 national economic sectors that received foreign investment, the processing and manufacturing industry continued to be the most attractive, leading with over $6.64 billion, accounting for 61.2% of the total registered capital, a decrease of 2.5% compared to the same period last year.
Structure of foreign investment in the first 5 months of 2023 by industry. (Data: Ministry of Planning and Investment)
In the first five months of 2023, Vietnam received investment from 82 countries and territories, with Singapore leading the way with over $2.53 billion, accounting for more than 23.3% of the total investment capital, a decrease of 14.3% compared to the same period last year.
In terms of the number of projects, South Korea led in terms of both new projects (17.4%), investment capital adjustment (25.2%), and capital contribution to purchase shares (28.5%).
Under the influence of the global minimum tax policy, big companies are cautiously considering continuing to make large-scale investments in Vietnam. Projects with an investment amount of less than $1 million account for nearly 70% of new projects, but the total investment only accounts for 2.2% of the total registered investment.
Investors from Asia still account for a large proportion of traditional investment partners, such as Singapore, Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan (China), and Hong Kong (China). These six partners alone account for 76.6% of the country's total investment over the past five months.
