HCMC – Fresh foreign direct investment (FDI) approvals in the year to May 20 had hit US$10.86 billion, down 7.3% over the same period in 2022, according to the Foreign Investment Agency at the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The newly-registered FDI projects had total pledged capital of US$5.26 billion during the period, rising by 27.8% year-on-year.

The number of new FDI projects registered in May inched up by 1.2% over April and soared by 66.4% against the same period last year.

In addition, foreign investors injected an additional US$2.28 billion into the ongoing FDI projects, while also getting involved in transactions of mergers and acquisitions worth US$3.32 billion.

The results demonstrated rising investor confidence in Vietnam’s business environment, according to the agency.

US$7.55 billion has been disbursed for FDI projects between January and May this year, sliding by 0.8% over the year-ago period.

Processing and manufacturing industries have attracted the largest amount of foreign capital inflows with nearly US$6.64 billion, or 61.2% of the total investment.

The finance-banking and real estate sectors ranked second and third, with a total pledge of US$1.53 billion and US$1.16 billion, respectively.