Up to 1,355 new foreign-invested projects were licensed during that period with a total registered capital of $7.12 billion—up by 11.8 per cent in the number of projects but down by 43 per cent in terms of capital.

Foreign direct investment disbursement in Vietnam in the first nine months of this year reached a record $15.4 billion, up by 16.2 per cent year on year (YoY), according to a report from the foreign investment department. However, foreign investment inflows into the country saw a yearly decline of 15.3 per cent to over $18.7 billion in during that period.

These positive figures indicate enterprises with foreign investment have been constantly recovering and expanding production and business activities in the country, FIA said in the report.

The decline in newly-registered capital was attributed to difficulties encountered by foreign investors in coming to Vietnam to explore investment opportunities and fulfilling investment registration procedures in the last months of 2021 due to the state policies to tackle the pandemic.

That affected the number of new projects granted licences in the first few months of this year.

A lack of large-scale projects worth over $100 million in the first months of 2022 compared to that of 2021 was also another major reason, FIA noted.

Capital added by foreign businesses to 769 operating projects in the country surged by 30 per cent to $8.3 billion, according to Vietnamese media reports.

Foreign investor capital contributions and share purchases also recorded a yearly hike of 2 per cent to $3.28 billion.

The processing and manufacturing sector lured the lion’s share of FDI with over $12.1 billion, accounting for 65 per cent of the country’s total capital.

Singapore remained Vietnam’s leading source of foreign investment with above $4.75 billion, making up 25.3 per cent of the total FDI registered in the country.

South Korea followed with nearly $3.8 billion, or 20.3 per cent, and Japan with $1.9 billion, or 10.2 per cent.

The country’s other major foreign investors were China, Denmark and Hong Kong.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)