As of February 20, 2023, the total newly registered capital, adjusted and contributed capital to buy shares and buy contributed capital of foreign investors reached nearly 3.1 billion USD, down 38% year-on-year. The capital generated by FDI projects was estimated at 2.55 billion USD, a decrease of 4.9% over the same period in 2022.

Accumulated to February 20, 2023, the whole country has 36,611 valid projects with a total registered capital of approximately 442.3 billion USD. The accumulated realised capital of foreign investment projects reached 276.5 billion USD, equalling 62.5% of the total valid registered investment capital.

Details are as follows:

1. FDI attraction in the first two months of 2023

1.1. FDI performance:

Realised capital:

As of February 20, 2023, disbursement of FDI projects were estimated at 2.55 billion USD, down 4.9% year-on-year and up 11.4 percentage point month-on-month.   

Import and export performance:

Export: Export turnover of FDI sector decreased in the first two months of 2023. Export (including crude oil) was estimated at 38.4 billion USD, down 5.3% year-on-year, accounting for 76.7% of export turnover. Export (excluding crude oil) was 38.1 billion USD, a decrease of 5.5% year-on-year, accounting for 76% of the country’s export turnover.

Import: Imports of the foreign-invested sector attained 33 billion USD, down 10.9% over the previous period and accounting for 67.5% of the country’s import turnover.

Despite decrease in export turnover, in the first two months of 2022 the FDI sector saw a trade surplus of 5.4 billion USD including crude oil and over 5 billion USD excluding crude oil, while the domestic sector had a trade surplus of more than 4.2 billion USD.

1.2. Investment registration

As of February 20, 2023, the total newly registered capital, adjusted capital and capital contributions and share purchases of foreign investors stood at 3.1 billion USD, down 38% year-on-year. The newly registered capital and capital contributions and share purchases adjusted capital continued to increase while newly registered capital continued falling over the same period in 2022.

Of which:

Newly registered capital: There were 261 new foreign-invested projects, valued at 1.76 billion USD, were granted licenses, up 42.6% in number and 2.8 times in value year-on-year.

Adjusted capital: There were 133 projects registering for capital adjustment, with a total additional capital of 535.4 million USD, down 6.3% in number and 85.1% in value compared to the same period in 2022.

Capital contributions and share purchases: There were 440 capital contributions and share purchases by foreign investors (up 10% year-on-year) with a value of 797.9 million USD (up 3.7% year-on-year).

(Detailed data in Appendix I attached)

By sector:

Foreign investors poured funds into 17 out of 21 sectors in the national economic classification system, of which the processing and manufacturing industry took the lead with more than 2.17 billion USD, making up 70.1% of the total. The real estate came next with a total investment of 396.9 million USD, accounting for 4.9% of the total. Followed by wholesale and retail with over 202.1 million USD, and logistics with 141.9 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 (30%) and capital-adjusted projects (63.9%).

By counterpart:

There were 51 countries and territories investing in Vietnam in the first two months of 2023. Singapore remained Vietnam’s leading source of foreign investment with 978.4 million USD, making up 31.6% of the total FDI registered in the country (down 42.7% year-on-year). Taiwan (China) came second with about 407.1 million USD, making up 13.1% of the total, and 3.85 times higher than the same period. Netherlands came third with a total registered investment capital more than of 369 million USD, accounting for 11.9% of the total. Next were China, Republic of Korea, Switzerland and so on.

Regarding the number of projects, China topped the list of investors when it comes to the number of newly-registered projects (accounting for 17.2%); the RoK was the leading in turns of capital adjustment (21.1%) and capital contributions and share purchases (30.5%)

By location:

The foreign investors had invested in 39 provinces and cities nationwide in the first two months 2023. Bac Giang led the way with a total registered capital of 824.3 million USD, making up 26.6% of the total and rising 8.4 times over the same period in 2022. Ho Chi Minh City ranked second with 103 new projects worth 369.1 million USD, making up 11.9% of the total. Next were Binh Duong, Quang Ninh, Dong Nai and so on.

Ho Chi Minh City remains leading city in number of new projects (39.5%), turns of adjusted-projects (21.8%) and capital contributions and share purchases (69.3%).

(Detailed data in Appendix II attached)

2. Accumulated foreign investment as of February 20, 2023

Accumulated as of February 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 out of 21 sectors in the national economic classification system, in which the processing and manufacturing accounted for the highest proportion with 262.9 billion USD, accounting for 59.4% of the total investment capital. It was followed by real estate sector with 66.5 billion USD (representing 15%); electricity production and distribution with more than 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 81.3 billion USD (accounting for 18.4% of the total). Singapore ranked second with 72.1 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 56.3 billion USD (accounting for 12.7% of the total investment capital), followed by Binh Duong with 39.6 billion USD (or 9% of the total investment capital), Hanoi with 38.9 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