I. FDI INFLOWS OF VIETNAM

As of April 20, 2023, the total newly registered capital, adjusted and contributed capital to buy shares and buy contributed capital of foreign investors reached nearly 8.8 billion USD, equalling 82.1% year-on-year. The capital generated by FDI projects was estimated at 5.85 billion USD, a decrease of 1.2% over the same period in 2022.

Accumulated to April 20, 2023, the whole country has 37,065 valid projects with a total registered capital of approximately 445.9 billion USD. The accumulated realised capital of foreign investment projects reached 279.8 billion USD, equalling 62.8% of the total valid registered investment capital.

Details are as follows:

1. FDI attraction in the first four months of 2023

1.1. FDI performance:

Realised capital:

As of April 20, 2023, disbursement of FDI projects were estimated at over 5.85 billion USD, down 1.2% year-on-year and up 1 percentage point compared to the first three months of this year.

Import and export performance:

Export: Export (including crude oil) was estimated at 81.19 billion USD, down 10.8 % year-on-year, accounting for 74.6% of export turnover. Export (excluding crude oil) was 80.56 billion USD, a decrease of 10.8% year-on-year, accounting for 74% of the country’s export turnover.

Import: Imports of the foreign-invested sector attained nearly 67.1 billion USD, down 15.5% over the previous period and accounting for 65.2% of the country’s import turnover.

Despite decrease in export turnover in the first four months of 2023 (plunged 0.8 percentage point compared to the first three months), the FDI sector saw a trade surplus of 14.1 billion USD including crude oil and nearly 13.5 billion USD excluding crude oil, while the domestic sector had a trade surplus of 8.3 billion USD.

1.2. Investment registration

As of April 20, 2023, the total newly registered capital, adjusted capital and capital contributions and share purchases of foreign investors stood at about 8.88 billion USD, equivalent to 82.1% year-on-year. The newly registered capital and capital contributions and share purchases adjusted capital increased while adjusted capital continued falling.

Of which:

Newly registered capital: There were 750 new foreign-invested projects, valued at over 4.1 billion USD, were granted licenses, up 65.2% in number and 11.1% in value year-on-year.

Adjusted capital: There were 386 turn of projects registering for capital adjustment (up 19.5% on-year) with a total additional capital of about 1.66 billion USD (down 68.6% year-on year, and up 1.7 percentage points compared to the first three months, 16.5 percentage points compared to the first two months).

Capital contributions and share purchases: There were 1,044 capital contributions and share purchases by foreign investors (up 1.8% year-on-year) with a value of more than 3.1 billion USD (up 70.4% year-on-year).

(Detailed data in Appendix I attached)

By sector:

Foreign investors poured funds into 18 out of 21 sectors in the national economic classification system, of which the processing and manufacturing industry took the lead with over 5.1 billion USD, making up 57.8% of the total and decreasing 17% year-on-year. Banking and finance came next with a total investment of over 1.5 billion USD, accounting for 17% of the total and rising 12 times compared to the same period last year. Followed were real estate and wholesale and retail, with 972 million USD (down 65.5%) and 372 million USD (down 44.3%) respectively.

It is also worth noting that processing and manufacturing was the sector with the largest number of newly-registered projects (29.9%) and capital-adjusted projects (40.8%). Wholesale and retail led in the number of capital contributions and share purchases (accounting for 40.8%)

By counterpart:

There were 77 countries and territories investing in Vietnam in the first four months of 2023. Singapore remained Vietnam’s leading source of foreign investment with nearly 2.2 billion USD, making up 27.4% of the total FDI registered in the country (down 29.5% year-on-year). Japan came second with about 2 billion USD, making up 22.1% of the total, and 2.63 times more year-on-year. China came third with a total registered investment capital of 752 million USD, accounting for 8.5% of the total and falling 30% on-year. Next were Taiwan (China), Hong Kong (China), Republic of Korea (RoK), Hong Kong (China) and so on.

Regarding the number of projects, the RoK topped the list of investors when it comes to the number of newly-registered projects (accounting for 16.1%); turns of capital adjustment (24.4%) and capital contributions and share purchases (28.2%)

By location:

The foreign investors had invested in 46 provinces and cities nationwide in the first four months 2023. Hanoi led the way with a total registered capital of more than 1.1 billion USD, making up 19.2% of the total and rising 2.6 times over the same period in 2021. Bac Giang ranked second with 1 billion USD, making up 11.3% of the total and increasing 3 times compared to the same period last year. Next were Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and so on.

Ho Chi Minh City remains leading city in number of new projects (40.9%), turns of adjusted-projects (24.6%) and capital contributions and share purchases (66.2%).

(Detailed data in Appendix II attached)

2. Evaluation of the FDI performance in the first four months of 2023

- The registered investment capital of FDI projects decreased compared to the same period last year but it was improved compared to the previous months (down 1.2% year on year and up 1 percentage points compared to the previous months).

- The newly registered capital increased again after seeing slight decrease in the first three months of the year (up 11.1%). The number of new projects continued to increase year-on-year and slump compared to the first three months of 2023 (up 65.2%). The growth rate of new projects was much larger than the total investment capital, which shows that: (i) small and medium-sized enterprises continued to pay attention to and had confidence in the investment climate of Vietnam to expand operation; (ii) large corporations were considering their business regarding the impact of Global Minimum Tax policy. The number of under-1-million USD projects accounted for nearly 70% of the total number of foreign-invested projects registered in Vietnam in the first four months of this year, but its value only making up 2.2% of the total.

- Newly-invested projects still focus on cities and provinces that have more advantages such as infrastructure, stable human resources, efforts to reform administrative procedures, and active investment promotion, like Hanoi, Bac Giang, Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Bac Ninh and Hai Phong.

- Asian and traditional investors accounted the most proportion (Singaporean, Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese (China), Hong Kong (China, South Korean). These six partners accounted for 75.1% of total national investment capital in the first four months)

- Adjusted capital still decreased compared to the same period last year (68.6%) due to few projects having their capital adjusted up, but the decline rate was improved month-on-month. The number of projects with capital adjustment rise (up 19.5%) instead of increase 2.6% in the first three months and down 6.3% in the first two months this year, affirming investors’ confidence in the country’s investment environment and their decisions to expand business.

- Although export of the FDI sector decreased, it posted a trade surplus and offset the trade deficit of the domestic business sector. With a trade surplus of nearly 14.1 billion USD (including crude oil) and nearly 13.5 billion USD (excluding crude oil), the FDI sector offset the trade deficit of 8.3 billion USD of the domestic business sector, helping the country have a trade surplus of about 5.2 billion USD.

3. Accumulated foreign investment as of April 20, 2023

Accumulated as of April 20, 2023, the whole country has 37,065 valid FDI projects worth nearly 445.87 billion USD. The accumulated realised capital of FDI projects is estimated at over 279.8 billion USD, equalling 62.8% of the total valid registered investment capital.

- By sector: Foreign investors have invested in 19 out of 21 sectors in the national economic classification system, in which the processing and manufacturing accounted for the highest proportion with more than 265.5 billion USD, accounting for 59.6% of the total investment capital. It was followed by real estate sector with over 67 billion USD (representing 15%); electricity production and distribution with more than 38.3 billion USD (or 8.6%).

- By counterpart: There are 143 countries having valid investment projects in. In which, the RoK ranked first with a total registered capital of over 81.5 billion USD (accounting for 18.3% of the total). Singapore ranked second with over 73 billion USD (representing for 16.4%). Next were Japan, Taiwan (China), Hong Kong (China) and so on

- By location: FDI has been present in all 63 provinces and cities nationwide, of which Ho Chi Minh City remains the leading province in attracting foreign investment with 56.7 billion USD (accounting for 12.7% of the total investment capital), followed by Binh Duong with about 40 billion USD (or 9% of the total investment capital), Hanoi with more than 39.1 billion USD (representing 8.8% of the total investment capital).

(Detailed data in Appendix III attached)

II. FDI OUTFLOWS OF VIETNAM

In the first four months of 2023, Vietnam’s total newly-registered and additional investment were more than 153.5 million USD (equalling 46.8% year on year). Of which, 41 projects were granted new investment registration certificates, with total registered capital of 140 million USD (equalling 49% year on year); and 11 projects registered for capital adjustment of 13.5 million USD (or 32.2% year on year).

Vietnamese investors have invested in 13 sectors abroad. Of which, information and communication took the lead with 10 newly-registered projects and 1 times of capital adjustment, with total registered capital of nearly 105.9 million USD, accounting for 69% of the total. Next came agriculture, forestry and fishery industry with over 13.2 million USD, accounting 8.6%. Followed by processing and manufacturing, mining and so forth.

There were 20 countries and territories receiving investment from Vietnam in the first four months of 2023. Leading is Singapore with 7 newly-registered and 2 capital-adjusted projects with the total registered capital of 103.3 million USD, accounting for 62.3% of the total. Followed by Laos, Australia and Cuba.

Accumulated as of April 20, 2022, Vietnam had 1,643 valid aboard investment projects with total registered investment capital of about 21.93 billion USD. In which, there are 141 projects of state-owned enterprises with a total investment of nearly 11.67 billion USD, accounting for 53.2% of the country’s total investment capital.

Vietnam’s investment aboard focuses mainly in: mining (31.8 %); agriculture, forestry and fishery (15.7%). The areas receiving the most investment from Vietnam were Laos (24.5%); Cambodia (13%); and Venezuela (8.3%)./.

(Detailed data in Appendix IV and V attached)

Translated by Bao Linh

Ministry of Planning and Investment