HCMC – Although newly-registered foreign investment has yet to recover after the fourth wave of the Covid pandemic, foreign investment pledged to Vietnam in the year to date through capital contributions and stake acquisitions has reached US$2.27 billion, soaring 41.4% year-on-year, according to the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Investment and Planning.

In the first six months of the year, foreign investors have conducted more than 1,700 transactions to contribute funds to and acquire shares in local firms, Thanh Nien Online newspaper reported. In total, foreign investors pledged to pour over US$14.03 billion into Vietnam, equal to 91.1% of the figure in the same period last year. During the period, 752 new projects obtained investment certificates, with total registered capital of over US$4.94 billion, down 48.2% over the year-ago period. In addition, 487 operational foreign-invested projects won approval to inject an additional US$6.82 billion, up 65.6%. According to the Foreign Investment Agency, the additional foreign investment in March and May fell but soared during the first half of the year, by 90% to 4.7 times. This showed that foreign investors still had confidence in Vietnam. Despite a decline in the newly-registered capital, foreign investment disbursements in the first six months of 2022 amounted to over US$10 billion, up nearly 9% year-on-year, proving that enterprises have been recovering and expanding their operations. In the first half, the manufacturing and processing sector was the most attractive, receiving a total investment of US$8.84 billion, making up 63% of the fresh capital. The real estate sector came in second with US$3.15 billion. Among the 84 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, Singapore was Vietnam’s largest investor in the six-month period, with over US$4.1 billion, accounting for 29.5% of the total and down 26.6% year-on-year. It was followed by South Korea with US$2.66 billion, up 29.6%.