FDI disbursement up 10% in eight months

Disbursed foreign investment capital in Vietnam hit $12.8 billion in the year to August 20, a 10.5% rise year-on-year.

The figures prove foreign-invested enterprises have been recovering and constantly expanding, the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) stated.

Additional capital invested by FDI projects soared 50.7% to $7.5 billion in the period.

A total 676 projects saw capital expansion registered, which means an average capital expansion per project of $11.1 million, much higher than the $7.8 million recorded in the eight months of last year.

Strong capital expansion was seen in many high-tech and electronics manufacturing projects including those of South Korean giant Samsung.

Samsung Electronics HCMC CE Complex in Ho Chi Minh City received approval in June to add $841 million to its capital. The complex, now with a total investment capital of $2.84 billion, is its second-largest manufacturing site worldwide for TV screens and home electronics, the largest being in Mexico.

Another unit, Samsung Electro-Mechanics Vietnam in the northern province of Thai Nguyen, got the go ahead for an additional $920 million in February, raising its total investment to $2.27 billion.

Capital contribution for stake acquisitions rose 3.6% to $2.9 billion, while the number of deals went down 10.8% to 2,425.

Newly-registered capital, however, continued to decline. The capital for 1,135 newly-registered projects in the first eight months was $6.35 billion, down 43.9% year-on-year.

The reason behind the decline is there were few projects with investment capital above $100 million, unlike the same period last year.

The first eight months of last year witnessed large-scale projects registered like the $3.1-billion LNG-to-power Long An I and II and $1.3-billion O Mon II thermal power projects.

Total registered capital, which includes newly registered capital, additional capital of operational projects, and capital contributions for stake acquisitions, reached $16.8 billion, down 12.3%.

Manufacturing and processing received the biggest volume of registered FDI with $10.7 billion, accounting for 63.9% of the country's total, followed by the real estate sector with $3.3 billion and 19.9%, respectively.

Of the 88 countries and territories investing in Vietnam this year, Singapore led the pack with $4.53 billion or 27%, down 27% year-on-year. South Korea ranked second with nearly $3.5 billion or 21%, up 43.7%.

According to property services company Savills, Vietnam, on a competitive basis versus China, other parts of Southeast Asia or India, offers a relative low-risk environment to do business.

“Vietnam has a very strong work ethic and a very highly educated labor force. We've already seen certainly up in places like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City high-end manufacturing in the technology, and electronics marketplace. With that growth of what I would call a base industry and a high-grade base industry in technology and electronics, it attracts investors,” said Christopher Marriott, Savills CEO, Southeast Asia.

Economist Brian Lee Shun Rong at Maybank, Malaysia's largest financial services group, told Forbes Vietnam’s recent business forum that Vietnam, a rising star in the global supply chain, has the potential to become a new tiger in Asia.

The World Bank on August 8 upped its Vietnam GDP growth estimate to 7.5% for 2022, much higher than the 5.8% it forecast early June.