As of January 20, 2023, the total newly registered capital, adjusted and contributed capital to buy shares and buy contributed capital of foreign investors reached about 1.69 billion USD, down 19.8% year-on-year. The capital generated by FDI projects was estimated at 1.35 billion USD, a decrease of 16.3% over the same period in 2022.

Accumulated to January 20, 2023, the whole country has 36,458 valid projects with a total registered capital of approximately 441.31 billion USD. The accumulated realised capital of foreign investment projects reached 275.35 billion USD, equalling 62.4% of the total valid registered investment capital.

Details are as follows:

1. FDI attraction in January 2023

1.1. FDI performance:

Realised capital:

As of January 20, 2023, disbursement of FDI projects were estimated to disburse 1.35 billion USD, a decline of 16.3% year-on-year.

Import and export performance:

Export: Export turnover of FDI sector decreased in the first month of 2023. Export (including crude oil) was estimated at 19.24 billion USD, down 14.4% year on year, accounting for 74% of export turnover. Export (excluding crude oil) was 19.1 billion USD, a decrease of 14.6% over the same period, accounting for 73.5% of the country’s export turnover.

Import: Imports of the foreign-invested sector attained 16.3 billion USD, down 19% over the previous period and accounting for 63.9% of the country’s import turnover.

Despite decrease in export turnover, in January, the FDI sector saw a trade surplus of 2.9 billion USD including crude oil and 2.8 billion USD excluding crude oil, while the domestic sector had a trade surplus of more than 2.4 billion USD.

1.2. Investment registration

As of January 20, 2023, the total newly registered capital, adjusted capital and capital contribution and share purchase of foreign investors stood at 1.69 billion USD, down 19.8% year-on-year. The adjusted capital continued to increase while newly registered capital decreased over the same period in 2022.

Of which:

Newly registered capital: There were 153 new foreign-invested projects, valued at 1.2 billion USD, were granted licenses, up 48.5% in number and 3.1 times in value year-on-year.

Adjusted capital: There were 89 projects registering for capital adjustment, with a total additional capital of 306.3 million USD, up 25.4% in number and decline of 75.9% in value compared to the same period in 2022.

Capital contribution and share purchase: There were 204 capital contributions and share purchases by foreign investors (slight decrease of 1% year-on-year) with also declined 6% year-on-year to over 174 million USD

(Detailed data in Appendix I attached)

By sector:

Foreign investors poured funds into 17/21 sectors in the national economic classification system, of which the processing and manufacturing industry took the lead with 1.34 billion USD, making up 79.5% of the total. Logistic industry came next with a total investment of 82.9 million USD, accounting for 4.9% of the total. Followed by construction industry with over 63.7 million USD, and real estate with nearly 60.9 million USD. The rest were other sectors.

It is also worth noting that processing and manufacturing was the sector with the largest number of newly-registered projects (35.3%) and capital-adjusted projects (61.8%).

By counterpart:

There were 39 countries and territories investing in Vietnam in the first month of 2023. Singapore remained Vietnam’s leading source of foreign investment with 813.9 million USD, making up 48.3% of the total FDI registered in the country (up 22.3% year-on-year). China came second with about 265.6 million USD, making up 15.8% of the total, a year-on-year decrease of 61.1%. Republic of Korea came third with a total registered investment capital more than of 148.8 million USD, accounting for 8.8% and a decline of 69.1% year-on-year. Next were Taiwan (China), Israel, Hong Kong (China) and so on.

Regarding the number of projects, China topped the list of investors when it comes to the number of newly-registered (accounting for 19% of new projects); the RoK was the leading in capital-adjusted projects (20.2%) and capital contribution and share purchase (28.9%)

By location:

The foreign investors had invested in 32 provinces and cities nationwide in January 2023. Bac Giang led the way with 719.9 million USD, making up 47% of the total and rising 10.7 times over the same period in 2021. Ho Chi Minh City ranked second with 50 new projects with the total registered capital of 179 million USD, making up 10.6% of the total. Next were Dong Nai, Bac Ninh, Ba Ria - Vung Tau and so on.

Ho Chi Minh City remains leading city in number of new projects (32.7%), adjusted projects (22.5%) and capital contributions and share purchases (68.1%).

(Detailed data in Appendix II attached)

2. Evaluation of the FDI performance in January 2023

- Since January saw two long holidays - New Year and Lunar New Year, the registered foreign investment capital decreased 16.3% compared to the same period in 2022.

- Both number of new projects and newly-registered capital increased sharply. With an increase of 48.5% in number and some large newly-registered projects worth hundreds of millions dollars, the total newly-registered capital in January 2023 was up 3.1 times year-on-year.

- Adjusted capital decreased by 75.9% because there are few projects registered for capital adjustment. However, the number of projects had their capital adjusted up still increased by 25.4% over the same period, showing the confidence of foreign investors to expand their projects in Vietnam.

- Exports of the FDI sector decreased in January 2023. However, the foreign-invested sector still posted a trade surplus of over 2.9 billion USD (including crude oil), and a 2.8 billion USD (excluding crude oil), making up for the trade deficit of over 2.4 billion USD of the domestic sector, helping the country gain a trade surplus of about 500 million USD.

3. Accumulated foreign investment as of January 20, 2023

Accumulated as of January 20, 2023, the whole country has 36,458 valid FDI projects worth 441.31 billion USD. The accumulated realised capital of FDI projects is estimated at 275.35 billion USD, equalling 62.4% of the total valid registered investment capital.

- By sector: Foreign investors have invested in 19/21 sectors in the national economic classification system, in which the processing and manufacturing accounted for the highest proportion with 262.2 billion USD, accounting for 59.4% of the total investment capital. It was followed by real estate sector with more than 66.3 billion USD (representing 15%); electricity production and distribution with 38.3 billion USD (or 8.7%).

- By counterpart: There are 142 countries having valid investment projects in. In which, RoK ranked first with a total registered capital of 81.2 billion USD (accounting for 18.4% of the total). Singapore ranked second with 71.8 billion USD (representing for 16.3%). 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 56.2 billion USD (accounting for 12.7% of the total investment capital), followed by Binh Duong with 39.7 billion USD (or 9% of the total investment capital), Hanoi with above 38.8 billion USD (representing 8.8% of the total investment capital).

(Detailed data in Appendix III attached)

Translated by Bao Linh

Ministry of Planning and Investment