Business News

Foreign investors have poured nearly 5 billion USD in Vietnam so far this year, equivalent to 91.5 percent of that in the same time last year, reported the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The prices of fuel products in the local market were revised up in line with the global fuel price hike, and the prices of food and foodstuffs, out-of-home dining and public transport services during the Tet holiday increased, thereby pushing up the index in February, said Nguyen Thu Oanh, head of GSO’s Price Statistics Department.

Several major foreign direct investments (FDI) projects increased their investment capital by hundreds of millions of US dollars in the first two months of 2022, according to the Foreign Investment Agency.

Besides this, $3.6 billion were added to 142 projects currently underway, more than twice as high as a year ago in value and 23.5 per cent more in the number of projects. Overseas investors also poured $769.6 million into 400 share purchase deals, an increase of 41.7 per cent on-year.

Vietnam is among the countries with the highest vaccination coverage and the country has adopted safe, flexible adaptation to and effectively controlled the COVID-19 pandemic. These are considered important foundations for a quick economic recovery to realize the targeted GDP growth of 6-6.5%, the GDP per capita of US$3,900, and the disbursement of 100% planned public investment capital.

In the first half of February, Việt Nam exported $8.75 billion worth of goods while its imports hit $12.66 billion. That brought the country's total trade value since the beginning of the year to $81.68 billion. During the period, the country also saw a trade deficit of over $2.5 billion.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and Standard Chartered Bank Vietnam on February 18 co-hosted the 2022 Economic Outlook and Green Finance Policy forum in Hanoi, which attracted over 120 participants, including representatives from state agencies, embassies, the Asian Development Bank, businesses, and economists.

Despite two years of struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam's international trade activities still set a new record by taking advantage of great opportunities from free trade agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the EU–Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).