Hanoi (VNA) - The inflow of foreign investment into Vietnam hitover 2.1 billion as of January 20, up 4.2 percent year-on-year, marking goodsignals for the country's investment attraction, the latest report from theForeign Investment Agency (FIA) showed.

Following the recovery from the end of 2021 after the impact of the COVID-19pandemic, many foreign-invested enterprises have stabilised and expanded theirproduction and business activities. Thus, disbursement of foreign directinvestment (FDI) also saw a positive increase of 6.8 percent to surpass 1.61billion USD during the first month of this year, FIA said in its report.

According to the report, up to 103 new foreign-invested projects were licensedwith a total registered capital of nearly 388 million USD, up 119.1 percentyear-on-year in terms of the number of projects but down 70.7 percent in value.

Although registered investment capital decreased compared to the same periodlast year due to a lack of large-scale projects, an increase in the number ofnew investment projects showed the confidence of foreign investors in thecountry's investment environment, FIA said.

Meanwhile, 71 operating projects were allowed to raise their capital by 1.27billion USD, up 54.3 percent in project number and nearly triple the level ofcapital seen in the same month last year.

Capital contributions and share purchases by foreign investors stood at 443.5million USD, up two times over the last year's corresponding month.

Among 15 sectors receiving FDI in the first month, processing and manufacturingtook the lead with over 1.2 billion USD, accounting for 58.9 percent of thetotal FDI. Real estate came next with 472 million USD or equivalent to 22.5 percent.Administrative sectors and supporting services; wholesale and retail were therunners-up with over 221 million USD and 52.5 million USD, respectively.

As per the data, Singapore led 33 countries and territories investing in Vietnamwith total investment capital of nearly 666 million USD, making up nearly 31.7 percentof the total FDI registered in the country.

The Republic of Korea ranked second with over 481 million USD, up five timesyear-on-year or equivalent to 30 percent of the total FDI. Mainland China camethird with nearly 451 million USD, down 27 percent or 21.5 percent.

The capital city attracted the highest amount of FDI, with over 448 million USD,29.9 times higher than last January, making up 21.3 percent of the total. Thecentral province of Nghe An came second with 400 million USD or 19 percentthanks to two existing projects increasing their levels of capital. It wasfollowed by Bac Ninh, Long An and Phu Tho./.