Statistics on foreign investment in Vietnam in the first half of 2023

In the first 6 months of 2023, the total foreign investment capital in Vietnam newly registered, adjusted and contributed capital to buy shares, buy capital contribution reached nearly 13.43 billion USD. It is estimated that foreign investment projects have disbursed about 10.02 billion USD, a slight increase of 0.5% over the same period in 2022 and an increase of 1.3 percentage points compared to the first 5 months of 2023.

Source: Data of Foreign Investment Department – Ministry of Planning and Investment

Statistics on foreign investment in Vietnam in the first half of 2023 by industry

Compared to the same period in 2022, the industries with an increase in total registered capital are

• Art, play and entertainment.
• Wholesale and retail; repair cars, motorbikes, motorbikes.
• Warehouse transportation.
• Other service activities.

In terms of total investment capital, statistics on attracting foreign investment in the first 3 months of 2023 by industry, the industry with the highest amount of investment capital compared to the same period last year is arts, entertainment and entertainment , with increase more than 30 times. The strong growth of investment capital in this sector is due to the recovery of Vietnam’s tourism industry after the COVID pandemic and supportive policies of the government.

The following industry is the wholesale, retail and repair of automobiles, motorcycles and motorbikes with total investment capital increasing more than 2 times compared to the first 3 months of 2022. This is also the industry with a large number of capital contributions and share purchases. with 209 turns in the first 3 months of the year, nearly 3 times higher than the second ranked industry, professional activities, science and technology (102 turns of capital contribution and share purchase). After 6 months, the number of transactions of capital contribution and share purchase of this industry accounted for 42.8%, or nearly half of the total number of transactions. Besides, the wholesale and retail trade and repair of automobiles, motorcycles and motorbikes is also the industry with the second largest number of newly granted projects, with 137 projects in just the first 3 months of 2023. It can be seen that, this is an industry that attracts a large number of investors to establish projects and invest in the form of capital contribution, but the amount of investment capital attracted has not really made a big progress compared to the same period in 2022.

The processing and manufacturing industry had the largest number of newly granted projects (150 projects) in the first 3 months of the year and accounted for 29.3% of new projects in the first 6 months of 2023, with the total newly registered capital. the highest (more than 2,300 million USD). This is also the industry of the highest number of capital contributions and share purchases, second only to the retail trade and repair of automobiles, motorcycles and motorbikes and the professional, scientific and technological activities, with highest capital contribution value (more than 550 million USD). In terms of total registered investment capital, this is the industry with the highest total capital of all industries with more than 3.9 billion USD. However, this registered capital is still 25% lower than the same period in 2022 invested in the processing and manufacturing industry.

Statistics on foreign investment in Vietnam in the first half of 2023 by partner

In the first two quarters of 2023, 90 countries and territories have invested in Vietnam. According to the partner, Vietnam is gradually attracting new investors from countries such as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland thanks to the influence of the EVFTA and EVIPA agreements, as well as Middle Eastern countries such as the UAE, Finland.

In terms of total investment capital, Singapore leads with more than 3 billion USD in investment capital, accounting for more than 22% of the total investment capital of 90 countries in Vietnam. However, compared to the same period in 2022, this capital level witnessed a significant decrease of 27.5%. In contrast, the country with the second largest total investment capital is Japan, which recorded an increase of more than 2 times compared to the same period in 2022, accounting for 16.4% of total investment capital in Vietnam in the first 6 months of 2023. One of the outstanding reasons for the quality of Japanese investors’ projects is to focus on infrastructure fields with great value. Besides, transactions with great value such as Japanese investor Sumitomo buying shares of VPBank on the stock exchange with a transaction value of USD 1,500 million have created the bounce of the total FDI investment in Vietnam. South of Japan in the first half of 2023.

In terms of the number of projects, China leads both in the number of new projects, accounting for 18% of the total number of projects entering Vietnam in the first 6 months of 2023. Meanwhile, South Korea leads in the number of capital adjustments (accounting for 26). 4%) and contributed capital to buy shares (accounting for 28.9%). These two are still two important economic and strategic partners of Vietnam in recent years due to geographical, market and cultural advantages between the countries. However, in terms of total investment capital, these markets are still behind Singapore and Japan, proving that the quality of investment from these markets has not yet had a major breakthrough.

It can be seen that investors from Asia, traditional investment partners such as Singapore, Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan – China still account for a large proportion, with about 76.1 % of total registered FDI capital of the country in the first 6 months of 2023.

Statistics on foreign investment in Vietnam in the first half of 2023 by province

In terms of the number of projects, Ho Chi Minh City is the leading locality in the country both in terms of the number of new projects, accounting for 38.9% of the total number of projects in the country, the number of adjusted projects accounting for 24.9% of the whole country and the number of registrations for capital contribution and share purchase accounted for 65.4% of the whole country.

Hanoi city has made remarkable achievements in the socio-economic field in the first 6 months of 2023. The city’s GRDP has increased by 5.97% over the same period last year (5.95% in the same period last year) . in the first quarter and 5.98% in the second quarter). Although this GRDP growth is lower than 7.10% in the same period last year, in the context of the impact of the world economy, this growth is still considered significant and remarkable. Hanoi attracted about $2,265 million in FDI in the first five months of 2023. Meanwhile, the tourism industry has recovered strongly, with the number of visitors to the capital increasing 2.5 times over the same period last year. Overall, these results show the efforts and adaptability of Hanoi city in the difficult context, helping to promote socio-economic development in the first half of 2023.

The overview takeaways

The positive signals of foreign investment capital in the first 6 months of 2023 have played an important role in creating a positive mood for potential investors who intend to invest in Vietnam. The Vietnamese market is considered to be one of Southeast Asia’s leading rapidly developing markets, with many investment projects in production, high technology, assembly, processing and manufacturing from all over the world.

According to the General Statistics Office, overall direct investment capital into Vietnam is at only 13.43 billion USD, down 4.3% compared to the same period in 2022. Foreigners entering Vietnam registered a decrease in the first 6 months of this year, but this decrease was narrowed compared to the same period last year (the first 6 months of 2022 decreased by 8.1% compared to the same period in 2021), showing that positive signal in attracting FDI.

However, it is still necessary to recognize the points that need to be overcome in the current Vietnamese FDI market that need to be removed to create opportunities for stronger growth. For example, the time to carry out investment preparation and project implementation procedures is still being prolonged, causing obstacles for investors. The technical infrastructure is not synchronized, the land fund is limited, the land rent in big cities like Hanoi is 1.5-2 times higher than in neighboring localities, applying information technology in investment promotion. Online investment has not yet fully promoted, some overlapping and inconsistent regulations between the Investment Law and the specialized law are the reasons for reducing the attraction of the current FDI market. Therefore, proposing solutions to complete and overcome these obstacles will be an important foundation in promoting trade and investment from abroad into Vietnam.

Clients have demand to register investment, adjust the Investment Registration Certificate, register capital contribution, purchase shares or stakes in Vietnam, please contact Viet An Law for the best support.