Vietnamese businesses have invested nearly 440 million USD abroad since the beginning of this year, according to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

A harbour in Australia. The country received the largest share ofVietnamese
outbound investment in the first eight months of this year (Photo: AFP)

Of the sum, around 340 million USD was poured into 102 newly licensed projects while the remaining 99.6 million USD was injected into 23 already operating projects.

In the first eight months of the year, the wholesale and retail sector lured the largest share of Vietnamese investment with 97 million USD, accounting for 22 percent of the total. 

The agro-forestry-fishery sector ranked second with 89 million USD, making up 20 percent of the total, and the science and technology sector came third with 84 million USD or equivalent to 19 percent, followed by real estate trading with 72 million USD or 16 percent. 

Among the 30 countries and territories where Vietnamese investors were active from January to August, Australia was the largest recipient with 179 million USD or 41 percent of the total, mainly thanks to two large-scale projects of TH Group worth a total of 88.5 million USD, the FIA said, adding that the projects are in agriculture and dairy farming. 

Australia was followed by Spain which attracted 60 million USD or 14 percent. Other destinations for Vietnamese investments were the US (46.3 million USD or 11.2 percent), Cambodia (39 million USD or 9 percent) and Singapore (36 million USD or 8 percent).

Experts forecast that Vietnam’s overseas investment would continue to increase if the world economy stays stable. Meanwhile, free trade agreements which Vietnam has joined could help drive local enterprises to seek investment opportunities in foreign markets thanks to tax cuts.