Disbursement of foreign investment reached US$23.18 billion in 2023, up 3.5 per cent year-on-year and marking a record high thus far, a report from the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Department (FIA) has shown.

According to the report, foreign investment inflows into Việt Nam this year also saw a significant increase of 32 per cent to nearly $36.62 billion.

Up to 3,188 new foreign-invested projects were licensed during the year with a total registered capital of over $36.6 billion, up 57 per cent and 62 per cent, respectively.

At the same time, 1,262 operating projects were allowed to raise their levels of capital by over $7.88 billion, surging 14 per cent in in the number of projects but down 22 per cent in terms of capital, the report said. It added that foreign investors’ capital contributions and share purchases also recorded a yearly hike of 66 per cent to $8.5 billion.

The FIA said that foreign investment still focused on 10 provinces and cities that had many advantages in attracting foreign investment including good infrastructure, stable human resources, efforts to reform administrative procedures, and effective investment promotion.

These 10 localities which are HCM City, Hải Phòng, Quảng Ninh, Bắc Giang, Thái Bình, Hà Nội, Bắc Ninh, Nghệ An, Bình Dương, and Đồng Nai account for 78.6 per cent of the country’s total number of foreign-invested projects and 74.4 per cent of registered capital.

From January to December, the manufacturing and processing sector attracted the lion’s share of foreign investment with over $23.5 billion, up 40 per cent year-on-year or equivalent to 64.2 per cent of the total.

Real estate came next with nearly $4.67 billion, up 4.8 per cent or making up 12.7 per cent of the total. Electricity production ranked third with $2.37 billion, surging 4 per cent, followed by banking and finance with $1.56 billion, up 27 times.

Among 111 countries and territories investing in Việt Nam, Singapore took the lead with over $6.8 billion, making up 18.6 per cent of the total foreign investment pledged in the country.

Japan followed with nearly $6.57 billion or 18 per cent, and Hong Kong (China) with $4.68 billion or 12.8 per cent. The country’s other major foreign investors were mainland China, South Korea, and Taiwan.

As of December 20, South Korea was the country’s largest source of foreign investment with 9,863 projects, worth over $85.86 billion. It was followed by Singapore with 3,494 projects valued at $74.51 billion; Japan with 5,264 projects capitalised at $73.96 billion and Taiwan with 3,104 projects worth $39.31 billion.

Viet Nam News