Weekly News Bulletin - No. 03, May 2023

The total inflows of foreign investment in Vietnam this year to May 20, including new and added investment and contributions for share purchases by foreign investors, reached nearly USD 10.86 billion, down 7.3% year-on-year, but up 10.6 percentage points as compared with the figure in the first four months of this year, the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment reported.

Of the sum, more than USD 5.26 billion was injected into 962 new projects, representing year-on-year increases of 27.8% and 66.4% in value, the agency said. Foreign investments were poured into 50 out of the 63 cities and provinces, of which Hanoi received the most, with about USD 1.87 billion, accounting for about 17.2% of the sum, followed by the northern province of Bac Giang, HCM City, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai provinces in the south.

Vietnam and Japan jointly inked three agreements, valued at 61 billion yen (USD 442.5 million), to fund new-generation official development assistance (ODA) projects in Vietnam.

Of the total, 50 billion Yen (USD 362 million) will be poured into a new-generation ODA program on post-pandemic socio-economic recovery and development. The rest will finance a project improving the public transportation system in southern Binh Duong Province and another one enhancing the infrastructure system for agricultural development in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

Last week highlight

Vietnam leaped 12 places in the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) newest business environment rankings while Asia is "reorienting away from China". The latest business environment rankings (BER) of EIU measure the attractiveness of doing business in 82 countries and territories on a quarterly basis, using a standard analytical framework with 91 indicators. The biggest improvements over the past year are in the business environments of Vietnam, Thailand, Belgium, Sweden, India, and Costa Rica.

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Let’s look at some other key financial and business headlines during the past week

  1. Vietnam's five-month FDI rises sharply nationwide
  2. Recovery anticipated for garment enterprises
  3. Lawmakers propose extending VAT reduction to 2024
  4. Inflation, bad debt keep interests rates high: SBV
  5. Smart logistics key for competitiveness improvement: Experts
  6. Vietnam remains leading destination for foreign investment inflows
  7. Vietnam, Italy develop SMART platform to expand online trade connectivity
  8. New Zealand highly values potential for cooperation with Vietnam
  9. Vietnam, Japan sign new-generation ODA deals worth over $440mn
  10. South Korea remains Vietnam’s largest investor

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Key words: Vietnam, business, finance, economy

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