Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi - Despite the COVID-19 pandemic’s adverse impacts, foreign investors still put their trust in the economy and investment climate of Vietnam in the new normal context, said Director of the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) Do Nhat Hoang.

A total of 4.42 billion USD of foreign investment was disbursed in the first three months of 2022, up 7.8 percent year on year, the FIA's statistics showed.

Dau tu (Vietnam Investment Review) cited the World Bank as saying that the increased disbursement indicated a strong rebound in foreign investment in the country.

Meanwhile, the FIA held that the Government and relevant agencies’ continual and effective assistance, along with efforts by enterprises to weather the pandemic and adapt to the new context, have helped firms gradually recover, maintain, and expand operations. That’s why the disbursed capital has been rising over the past months.

Though the registered capital in Q1, 8.9 billion USD, is equivalent to just 87.9 percent of the figure in the same period last year, only investment in new projects declined (by 55.5 percent) while the number of new projects still increased (37.6 percent), and the capital poured into existing projects surged 93.3 percent to top 4.06 billion USD.

Foreign investment through capital contribution and share purchase exceeded 1.63 billion USD, more than doubling the figure in Q1 last year.

Savills Vietnam said apart from favourable macro-factors, the State’s timely support plays the decisive role in helping consolidate foreign enterprises’ trust in the country.

Together with economic policies, the quickly implemented mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign has turned Vietnam into one of the six countries with the largest vaccine coverage in the world, a basis for foreign businesses to put their trust in the local market’s recovery, according to Savills Vietnam.

The FIA predicted that the full reopening to international tourists since March 15, the visa exemption for citizens from some countries, and European investors’ shift of capital flows due to the Russia - Ukraine conflict’s impacts will also affect foreign investment attraction in Vietnam in the time ahead.

Foreign investment into industrial parks is likely to increase in 2022, with investors mainly coming from Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and the EU, the FIA Director noted.