According to data released on August 3 by the General Statistics Office under the Ministry of Finance, citing the Foreign Investment Agency, total registered FDI - including newly registered projects, additional capital and foreign investors' capital contributions and share purchases - reached US$38.06 billion as of July 31.

New investment more than doubles

During the January-July period, Vietnam approved 2,429 new foreign-invested projects with combined registered capital of US$21.05 billion.

The number of newly licensed projects rose 7.8% compared with the same period last year, while newly registered capital more than doubled.

Manufacturing and processing remained the largest recipient of new FDI, attracting US$11.58 billion, equivalent to 55% of newly registered investment.

Electricity, gas, water supply and air conditioning projects ranked second with US$3.13 billion, accounting for 14.9%, while all other sectors received a combined US$6.34 billion, representing 30.1% of total newly registered capital.

Singapore remains Vietnam's largest new investor

Among the 69 countries and territories with newly licensed investment projects in Vietnam during the first seven months of the year, Singapore remained the largest investor.

Singapore committed US$7.5 billion, accounting for 35.6% of newly registered capital.

It was followed by:

South Korea: US$5.61 billion (26.7%)
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (China): US$2.91 billion (13.8%)
China: US$1.73 billion (8.3%)
Japan: US$1.37 billion (6.5%)
The Netherlands: US$424.3 million (2.0%)

Thai Nguyen tops local destinations for new FDI

Among Vietnam's provinces and centrally administered cities, Thai Nguyen attracted the largest amount of newly registered foreign investment during the first seven months of 2026, with nearly US$5.8 billion.

Ho Chi Minh City ranked second, drawing more than US$3.6 billion across 1,235 newly licensed projects.

Nghe An placed third with more than US$2.3 billion, followed by:

Hai Phong: more than US$1.8 billion
Bac Ninh: more than US$1.3 billion
Dong Nai: more than US$794 million

In addition to new projects, 666 existing foreign-invested projects received approval to increase their investment capital during the period, with additional registered capital totaling US$10.43 billion, up 4.4% from a year earlier.

FDI disbursement reaches five-year high

Vietnam also recorded strong growth in actual FDI disbursement.

The General Statistics Office estimated that US$15.2 billion in foreign direct investment was disbursed during the first seven months of 2026, an increase of 11.8% compared with the same period last year.

The figure represents the highest level of FDI disbursement recorded for the January-July period in the past five years.

Manufacturing and processing accounted for the largest share of realized investment at US$12.55 billion, representing 82.6% of total FDI disbursement.

Real estate activities attracted US$1.1 billion, equivalent to 7.5%, while electricity, gas, hot water, steam and air conditioning projects received US$549.3 million, accounting for 3.6%.

Nguyen Le