As of November 20, foreign investors had invested in 18 of Vietnam’s 21 economic sectors, with manufacturing and processing receiving the most capital, at 53 per cent of the total, according to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) at the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Total newly-registered capital, additional capital, and contributed capital for share purchases by foreign investors reached $26.46 billion in the period, a slight increase of 0.1 per cent year-on-year.

Newly-registered capital and especially additional capital posted impressive increases.

In the first eleven months, 1,577 projects were granted investment licenses, down 31.8 per cent year-on-year, with registered capital of over $13 billion, up 3.76 per cent. Additional capital of over $8 billion, up 26.7 per cent, went to 877 projects, down 16.6 per cent.

The FIA noted that this was a positive result given the pandemic and changes to global investment flows.

Contributed capital for share purchases in the first eleven months fell 33 per cent year-on-year to nearly $4.4 billion, while disbursed capital fell 4.2 per cent to $17.1 billion.

Regardless, experts believe that with a high vaccination rate, Vietnam’s economy and therefore FDI disbursement will gradually return to pre-Covid-19 levels.

Of the 18 invested sectors, manufacturing and processing ranked first, with total investment of over $14 billion, accounting for 53 per cent of the total. Following were electricity production and distribution, real estate, and wholesale and retail.

Investors came from 100 countries, territories, and regions. Singapore led the way, followed by South Korea and Japan.