Vietnam’s overseas investment declines in nine months

Hanoi: Vietnam's overseas investment, including new and adjusted capital, amounted to US$189.6 million, down 54.5% year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Investment Agency.According to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA), new investment certificates were issued for 105 projects worth US$177.5 million, an annual decrease of 27.5%. Additionally, 20 projects saw capital adjustments totalling US$12 million, plunging by 93%.Vietnamese investors channelled their capital into 15 fields in the period, with the mining sector attracting the most, at US$58.6 million or 30.9% of the total. The processing and manufacturing industry and wholesale, retail, and vehicle repair followed with US$34.7 million and US$30.9 million, respectively. Meanwhile, their investments in electricity, gas, hot water, and air conditioning production and distribution reached US$23.5 million.Vietnam's overseas investment was poured into 27 countries and territories, with the Netherlands as the top destinatio n, receiving US$54.6 million and closely followed by Laos with US$43.5 million.The US, Cambodia, and the UK were also significant destinations, attracting US$41.8 million, US$21.8 million, and US$20.4 million, respectively.As of September this year, Vietnam had 1,772 valid overseas projects with a cumulative capital of nearly US$22.11 billion. The mining sector held the lion's share of this capital, at 31.8%, followed by agro-forestry-fishery at 15.3%. The primary destinations for the investments remained within the ASEAN region, with Laos and Cambodia receiving 24.9% and 13.3%, respectively.On the other hand, in the first nine months, foreign investors committed to investing more than US$24.78 billion in Vietnam through new registrations, capital adjustments, and share acquisitions, an 11.6% increase from the previous year. The disbursed foreign capital exceeded US$17.3 billion, up 8.9% year-on-year.Source: Emirates News Agency