FDI attraction situation in Vietnam and Vietnam’s overseas investment in January 2025
By the end of January 2025, the total new and additional investments, and capital contributions and share purchases of foreign investors reached over 4.33 billion USD, a year-on-year surge of 48.6%. The capital generated by FDI projects was estimated at 1.51 billion USD, up 2% over the same period of 2024.
Accumulated to January 31, 2024, the whole country has 42,272 valid projects with a total registered capital of 505.4 billion USD. The accumulated realised capital of foreign investment projects reached about 322.5 billion USD, equaling 64.1% of the total valid registered investment capital.
Details are as follows:
I. FDI INFLOWS OF VIETNAM
1. FDI attraction in January 2025
1.1. FDI performance:
Realised capital:
In January 2025, disbursement of FDI projects were estimated to reach about 1.51 billion USD, rising 2% year-on-year.
Import and export performance:
Export: Export (including crude oil) was estimated at over 22.6 billion USD, a decline of 9.5% year-on-year, accounting for 70.3% of export turnover. Export (excluding crude oil) was over 22.5 billion USD, down 9.5% from a year earlier, accounting for 70% of the country’s export turnover.
Import: Imports of the foreign-invested sector attained 19.4 billion USD, a slight decrease of 1% over the previous period and accounting for 62.7% of the country’s import turnover.
Overall, in the first month of 2025, the FDI sector saw a trade surplus of about 3.2 billion USD including crude oil and 3.1 billion USD excluding crude oil, while the domestic sector had a trade deficit of over 1.97 billion USD.
1.2. Investment registration
The total new and additional investments, and capital contributions and share purchases of foreign investors reached more than 4.33 billion USD in January 2025, a year-on-year surge of 48.6%.
Of which:
Newly registered capital: There were 282 new projects worth 1.29 billion USD, were granted licenses, down 6.6% in number and 43.6% in value year-on-year.
Adjusted capital: There were 137 projects had their capital added with a total of nearly 2.73 billion USD, 4.6% in number and 6.1 times higher in value against the same period last year.
Capital contributions and share purchases: There were 260 capital contributions and share purchases by foreign investors (down 12.2% year-on-year) with a value of approximately 322.9 million USD (up 70.4% year-on-year).
(Detailed data in Appendix I attached)
By sector:
Foreign investors poured funds into 16 out of 21 sectors in the national economic classification system, of which the processing and manufacturing industry led with total investment capital reaching over 3.09 billion USD, making up 71.3% of the total and rising 99.1% from the same period last year. Real estate business came next with a total investment of 1.09 billion USD, accounting for 23.5% of the total and down 6.4% year-on-year. Followed were professional activities, science and technology, and water supply, waste management, and treatment activities with a total registered capital reaching 98.8 million USD and 73.8 million USD, respectively; the rest were other sectors.
It is also worth noting that processing and manufacturing industry was the sector with the largest number of new projects (42.2%) and capital adjustment (63.5%). The wholesale and retail industry led in capital contributions and share purchases (39.6%).
By counterpart:
There were 55 countries and territories investing in Vietnam in the first month of 2025. South Korea was Vietnam’s leading source of foreign investment with over 1.25 billion USD, making up of 28.9% of the total and a 13.4-fold increase year-on-year. Singapore came second with over 1.24 billion USD, making up 28.7% of the total investment and up 1.1% year-on-year. Followed by Japan, China, Hong Kong (China) and so on.
Chinese investors led in the new project number, accounting for 30.1%, while Korean investors took the lead in capital adjustments, and capital contributions and share purchases, with 19% and 25.4%, respectively.
By location:
The foreign investors had invested in 39 provinces and cities nationwide in January 2025. Bac Ninh emerged as the top for FDI attraction of over 1.39 billion USD, making up 32.2% of the total and 6.1 times higher than the 2024 figure. Dong Nai ranked second with nearly 959 million USD, accounting 22.1% of the total and 3.4 times higher year-on-year. Hanoi ranked third with 716.4 million USD, accounting for 16.8% of the total and up 1.9% year-on-year. Followed by Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Binh Duong and so on.
Ho Chi Minh City was the best performer in attracting new projects (or 35.5%), additional investment (19.9%) and capital contributions and share purchases (64.2%).
(Detailed data in Appendix II attached)
2. Evaluation of the FDI performance in January 2025
- Foreign investors still remained active in production and business in January 2025 despite Lunar New Year, with FDI disbursement reached about 1.51 billion USD, a slight increase of 2% over the same period.
- New investment plummeted in January 2025 (down 43.6% against the same period last year) because there were not many large projects, and foreign investors’s decisions were affected by the two holidays.
However, capital adjustments and capital contributions-share purchases this month surged by 509.6% and 70.4%, respectively, rising overall foreign investment in the month by 48.6%, which was a relatively large rise, especially when January had six days off for the Tet holiday.
- Asian and traditional investors accounted the most proportion (those from South Korea, Singapore, Japan, China and Hong Kong (China)). These five partners accounted for 73.4% of newly-registered projects and 86.5% of total national investment capital). Both South Korea and Japan increased their investment capital (by 13.4 times and 7.7 times, respectively) and had their ranking up (by 5 and 4 places, respectively) as compared to the same period.
- Investment still focused on cities and provinces that have more advantages such as infrastructure, stable human resources, efforts to reform administrative procedures, and active investment promotion, like Bac Ninh, Dong Nai, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Binh Duong. These ten localities accounted for 81.2% of the country’s new projects and 90.8% of the total investment capital in the first month of 2025.
- The foreign sector had a trade surplus of 3.2 billion USD including crude oil, and 3.1 billion USD excluding crude oil, offsetting the domestic sector’s trade deficit of over 1.97 billion USD, helping the whole country have a trade surplus of about 1.23 billion USD in January 2025.
3. Accumulated foreign investment in January 2025
Cumulative as the end of January 2025, the whole country has 42,272 valid FDI projects with a total registered capital of about 505.4 billion USD. The accumulated realized capital of FDI projects is estimated at over 324 billion USD, equaling 64.1% 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 over 310.4 billion USD, accounting for 61.4% of the total investment capital. It was followed by real estate business with nearly 74 billion USD (representing 14.6%); power production and distribution with about 41.9 billion USD (or 8.3%).
- By counterpart: Vietnam recorded new investments from the Central African Republic and Moldova in January 2025, thereby having 147 countries and territories investing in the country. In which, South Korea ranked first with a total registered capital of over 92.1 billion USD (accounting for 18.3% of the total). Singapore came second with nearly 84.14 billion USD (representing for 16.6%), followed by Japan, Taiwan (China), and Hong Kong (China).
- By location: FDI has been present in all 63 provinces and cities nationwide, of which Ho Chi Minh City remained the leading province in attracting foreign investment with nearly 59 billion USD (accounting for 11.7% of the total investment capital), followed by Hanoi with over 43 billion USD (or 8.5% of the total investment capital), Binh Duong with nearly 42.6 billion USD (representing 8.4% of the total investment capital).
(Detailed data in Appendix III attached)
II. FDI OUTFLOWS OF VIETNAM
In January 2025, Vietnamese businesses invested 10 new projects abroad, and no projects had capital adjustment. Vietnam’s total investment were about 83 million USD, marking a 5.1-fold increase year-on-year.
1. FDI outflows in January 2025:
Vietnamese investors channelled capital into 5 sectors abroad, with the manufacturing and processing industry topping the list (accounting for 74.2% of total investment capital, while there were no projects in this industry in the previous period), and mining (22.5% of the total, 4.7 times higher year-on-year). The rest were construction, professional services and science-technology and information and technology.
Among 8 countries and territories in January, with Philippines emerging as the top destination, generating 39.4% of the total, and followed by Indonesia with 37.4% of the total; (meanwhile these two countries did not receive investment from Vietnam in the previous period). Laos ranked third, attracting 22.3% of investments, representing a 4.4-time increase of year on year.
2. Cumulative FDI outflows in January 2025:
As of the end of January 2025, Vietnam's cumulative overseas investment included 1,839 valid projects with total capital exceeding 22.68 billion USD.
By sector: The investments concentrated on 18 out of 21 sectors, with a focus on mining (more than 7 billion USD, or 31% of the total), agriculture, forestry and fishery with a total investment of 3.4 billion USD, marking 15% of the total, and information and communication, which receiving over 2.84 billion USD, or 13%.
By counterpart: The biggest destinations of Vietnamese investments were Laos (nearly 5.7 billion USD, or 25% of the total); Cambodia (nearly 2.94 billion USD, representing 13%); and Venezuela (amounting 1.83 billion USD, or 8.1%)./.
(Detailed data in Appendix IV and V attached)
Translated by Bao Linh
Ministry of Planning and Investment
