HCMC – As many as 33 countries and territories invested in Vietnam in January, with Singapore being the biggest investor with nearly US$666 million, according to the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Singapore’s pledged investment made up 31.7% of Vietnam’s total foreign investment approvals. South Korea came second with US$481 million, followed by China with some US$451 million. A few years ago, South Korea or Japan always took the lead in total registered capital poured into Vietnam, but since the start of the Covid pandemic, Singapore has gained the top spot. In 2021, Singapore’s capital flows into Vietnam were 2.2 times higher than those from South Korea and 2.7 times higher than Japan’s flows as the former developed a new major project, contributed funds and acquired shares in a local firm. Singapore remains the most attractive among Asian countries to multinational groups to do business. As such, Singapore’s heavy investment in Vietnam was partly due to the contribution from many firms from the United States, Europe and China. Many Singaporean firms have showed their interest in the production, energy, property, logistics, finance, technology, health, e-commerce and fintech sectors in Vietnam. As of January 20, the country had over 34,640 operational foreign-invested projects with a total registered capital of nearly US$416 billion.