Although in 2023, Vietnam's economy is forecasted to still face many difficulties when the world situation is unpredictable, but in the long term, Vietnam is considered by foreign organizations to be still an attractive destination for foreign investors. Foreign investment capital.
Yen Phong Industrial Park, Bac Ninh Province (illustration).
FDI disbursement record
The Foreign Investment Department, Ministry of Planning and Investment said that although it is not complete, the total registered FDI capital into Vietnam in 2022 only reached nearly 27.72 billion USD, equaling 89% over the same period last year. 2021, but the joy of a successful year in attracting FDI is the record disbursement of USD 22.4 billion, an increase of 13.5% over the same period in 2021. This is the actual amount of foreign direct investment capital. is the highest in the past 5 years.
Specifically, in 2022, the total newly registered capital, adjusted and contributed capital to buy shares, buy capital contributions from foreign investors reached nearly 27.72 billion USD, equaling 89% compared to the same period in 2021.
Of these, newly registered capital reached nearly 12.45 billion USD, down 18.4% over the same period; investment capital through capital contribution and share purchase reached 5.15%, down 25.2% over the same period. In contrast, adjusted capital reached nearly 10.2 billion USD, up 12.2% over the same period.
According to the Foreign Investment Agency, the total investment in 2022 will decrease compared to 2021 due to the general difficulties of the world economy, the trend of outward investment of developed countries shows signs of decline.
Do Nhat Hoang, Director of the Department of Foreign Investment, explained that investors' uncertainty and the risk situation due to the influence of global political conflicts, high inflation pressure, supply chain disruption. The response is putting significant downward pressure on global investment flows in 2022, negatively affecting the outward investment flows of major economies, especially investment partners of Vietnam.
However, the Foreign Investment Department said that newly registered investment capital decreased (down 18.4%) but the number of new investment projects increased (up 17.1%, reaching 2,036 projects) over the same period. year 2021.
Along with that, with an increase of 12.2% in the number of capital adjustments of FDI projects in the whole year of 2022 over the same period, the leader of the Foreign Investment Department affirmed that the foreign investors' confidence in with Vietnam's economy and investment environment. Therefore, foreign investors have decided to invest in expanding existing projects.
This is not the highest increase in the year over the same period, but it is a good signal that enterprises are gradually recovering, maintaining and expanding production and business activities of FDI enterprises after COVID-19 pandemic”, said Mr. Do Nhat Hoang.
Importantly, while the registered capital decreased, the disbursed foreign investment capital reached nearly 22.4 billion USD, up 13.5% over the same period in 2021.
From the perspective of foreign investors, Mr. Alain Cany, President of the European Business Association in Vietnam, said that Vietnam should not look at the number of new investment attraction, but should look at the disbursement figure. is at a high level.
Mr. Nguyen Van Toan, Vice Chairman of the Association of Foreign Investment Enterprises (VAFIE), said that the wave of global investment shift is very clear, but the question is how Vietnam can take advantage of this wave. . Because according to Mr. Toan, most of the FDI capital flowing into Vietnam comes from Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, Singapore and more recently China, very little direct investment from Europe and the US.
The lag in competition to attract FDI of Vietnam compared to some countries in the region has 2 reasons. The first is that policies and institutions are in many cases unpredictable and unstable. Secondly, from the business side, especially small businesses, the vision is only short-term. Therefore, local enterprises are not qualified to participate in the value chain of FDI enterprises.
"There is a new wave of FDI, but there are many obstacles for this wave to come to Vietnam, especially the wave of high-quality capital," Toan affirmed.
Vietnam is still an attractive destination
Although in 2023, Vietnam's economy is forecasted to still face many difficulties when the world situation is unpredictable, but in the long term, Vietnam is considered by foreign organizations to be still an attractive destination for foreign investors. Foreign investment capital.
Mr. Alain Cany affirmed that Vietnam offers great investment opportunities for European businesses and Vietnam will certainly be in a better position in the next 2 or 3 years and will prove its position as one of the most dynamic business and investment destination.
Ms. Virgina B. Foote, President of the American Business Association in Vietnam, also said that this is the time when Vietnam continues to improve the investment environment effectively for investors, removing difficulties in human resources. force, logistics and disease safety.
“The COVID-19 epidemic is reshaping as investors choose a destination that is not only an attractive business environment, low labor costs, but also the ability to absorb technology and added value in the supply chain. global response”, commented Ms. Virgina B. Foote.
In order to attract large FDI projects in fields such as information technology, digital technology, artificial intelligence, big data, smart city, research and development, etc., many foreign investors believe that, Vietnam needs to fundamentally renovate all activities, from investment promotion, to building and perfecting institutions and policies on foreign investment in line with development trends, and approaching international advanced standards.
