Singapore has been the largest foreign direct investor in Vietnam over the first nine months of the year with a figure of US$4.7 billion, accounting for 44.9% of total newly registered capital, according to figures recently released by the General Statistics Office (GSO).

A Vietnam- Singapore industrial park in the southern province of Binh Duong

This comes as the total foreign direct investment (FDI) capital in the country by September 20, including newly granted and adjusted capital through capital contribution and share purchase value of foreign investors, reached a sum of US$21.2 billion, representing a decline of 18.9% on year.

In terms of the number of new projects, Singapore ranked fourth with 173 investment projects in Vietnam behind the Republic of Korea (RoK) with 499 projects, China with 271 projects, and Japan with 209 projects.

Notably, the Bac Lieu Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Power Plant project under LNG Bac Lieu Thermal Power Center of Singapore was one of the biggest foreign-invested projects in the country with a registered investment capital of US$4 billion. The project aims to generate electricity from liquefied natural gas.

The sectors which attracted the most FDI during the reviewed period include the processing industry, manufacturing, real estate firms, along with the production and distribution of electricity, gas, hot water, steam, and air-conditioning.

Out of a total of 72 countries and territories which have newly licensed investment projects in the nation since the start of the year, Singapore represented the largest investor with US$4.7 billion, accounting for 44.9% of total newly registered capital. The island state was followed by China with US$1,079.7 million, the Republic of Korea (RoK) at US$1,076.6 million, Hong Kong (China) at US$876.1 million, and Taiwan (China) at US$852.4 million.