NEWS – EVENT

While adversities due to COVID-19 are making some firms more prudent with outbound investment ventures, but there are firms that do not hesitate in finding ways to tap into the global market potential.

Foreign enterprises poured a considerable amount of capital into manufacturing and processing projects in the first half of January, according to the head of the investment office at the Ho Chi Minh City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (Hepza), Tran Viet Ha.

Vietnam attracted US$23.4 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the January-October period this year, down by around 19.4% from the same period last year due to the adverse impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data from the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

While China is struggling with the pandemic and is losing the confidence of foreign investors, proven resilience is pushing Vietnam to the fore as an ideal investment and manufacturing hub for Southeast Asia.

Since the issuance of Vietnam’s Law on Foreign Investment in 1987 right after the doi moi policy was adopted, Vietnam has continuously revised its policies to keep improving the opportunities for international investors. Thomas Treutler, managing director of the Vietnam offices of Tilleke & Gibbins, pores over the country’s highlighted reforms over the past three decades.

Vietnam attracted 12.33 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first four months of 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 15.5 percent due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).

The impacts of COVID-19 on Vietnam's economic growth in 2020 will be worse than most expectations but it is expected to boost the relocation of manufacturing facilities from China to Vietnam.

There is cause for optimism among business leaders in Vietnam and beyond in terms of foreign direct investment flows in 2020, with geopolitical and health factors leading to companies to formulate a plan B for operations.

The development of a commodity exchange in Vietnam is expected to provide an alternative for investors when they find difficulties investing in risky assets such as stock and real estate.

The foreign capital inflow into Vietnam through M&As soared in the first nine months of the year, raising concerns about an economic crisis like the one that occurred 10 years ago.

Vietnam is one of the promising strategic markets for South African businesses, heard the Vietnam-South Africa business conference in Ho Chi Minh City on October 21.

The government of Vietnam should be careful in choosing investment projects which cause impact on environment amid rising Chinese inflows resulted from the US-Sino trade tensions, Chief Representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Konaka Tetsuo has said.

Vietnam was ranked eighth among the top 20 best countries to invest in by US News & World Report, surpassing neighbours like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.