The new circular aims to streamline administrative procedures, remove barriers and enhance the ease with which foreign capital can flow into Vietnam’s stock market.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo held his first cabinet meeting in the planned new capital, Nusantara, on August 12.

The disbursement of public investment funded by foreign sources in localities is relatively low at present, requiring solutions to difficulties facing each project, an official of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said on May 21.

The Mekong Delta province of Long An has so far this year lured foreign capital worth over 470 million USD in 74 projects.

To attract new investment inflows, especially foreign capital, Vietnam needs to have an appropriate and attractive investment policy and friendly business environment, said insiders.

Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City - the country's economic locomotives - recorded the highest disbursement of public investment capital in January, with nearly 2.7 trillion VND (117 million USD) and more than 1.63 trillion VND, respectively, reported the General Statistics Office.

More than 44.6 trillion VND (1.95 billion USD) of public investment was disbursed in the first two months of 2022, equivalent to 8.61 percent of this year’s target and higher than the rate of 5.09 percent in the same period last year.

The total social investment capital disbursed in 2021 was estimated at nearly 2,892 trillion VND (126.5 billion USD), up 3.2 percent annually, reported the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The public investment disbursed in 2021 has reached 77.3 percent of the target set by the Prime Minister, lower than the rate of 82.66 percent recorded last year, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

So far this year, industrial parks (IPs) in the southern province of Dong Nai hav attracted close to 80 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects totally worth some 715 million USD, exceeding its target of 700 million USD for the entire year.

The disbursement of official development assistance (ODA) at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) this year was estimated at 718.3 billion VND (31.33 million USD) as of May 31, or 25.2 percent of the target.

It is undeniable that adopting environment, society and governance (ESG) principles is helping local companies improve business management and attract more foreign capital.

The US website Seeking Alpha has described Vietnam as the preferred destination of foreign capital in recent years with annual economic growth of 7 percent, twice as much as the world average.

Disbursement of public investment in the first six months of 2020 amounted to nearly 156 trillion VND (6.73 billion USD), fulfilling 33.1 percent of the plan set by the National Assembly and the Prime Minister, higher than the 28.56 percent recorded in the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Almost 34.75 trillion VND (1.49 billion USD) of public investment capital was disbursed in the first two months of 2020, equivalent to 7.38 percent of the year’s plan and nearly doubling the value and progress in the same period last year.

Vietnam’s stock market has been evaluated as a bright spot in the region in terms of growth speed and foreign capital absorption for years, according to Chairman of the State Securities Commission (SSC) Tran Van Dung.

Indonesia’s external debt remained under control at healthy levels, apparent from its about 37 percent external debt-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio at the end of February, relatively unchanged from the earlier month and within the average of peer nations, according to a statement from the Bank Indonesia (BI).

Vietnam attracted a total of 30.8 billion USD worth of registered foreign direct investment (FDI) as of November 20, a slight decrease of 6.8 percent year-on-year.

Most investment funds in Vietnam’s equity market have recorded modest gains and were beaten by the growth of the benchmark VN-Index in the past three quarters.

Leading destinations for the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) such as Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces, have been shifting their focus to investment quality after 30 years attracting foreign capital.