Looking at the Foreign direct investments by country in Vietnam is a very interesting thing to do.
However, before going any further, it is really important to fully understand what is meant by Foreign direct investments.
When we consider Vietnam specifically, a Foreign direct investment can be defined as being an investment in Vietnam made either by an individual or by a firm who are located in a different country. A good example of a Foreign direct investment is an investor based outside of Vietnam who seek to establish a business operations in Vietnam. Please note however, that most portfolio investments will not fall under the definition of a Foreign direct investment. When we say portfolio investments, we mean foreign investors investing in Vietnam through the purchase of Vietnamese stocks. Now that we have delimited what is included and what is not from the Foreign direct investments, let’s have a quick look at the current situation in Vietnam. In other words, where do the Vietnamese Foreign direct investments come from? Well, most of them come from Asia. South Korea is the largest investor with almost 20% of the overall Foreign direct investments. Japan is a close second that represents between 15% and 20% of the total. Singapore is third, China and Taiwan are completing the top 5 Foreign direct investors in Vietnam. It is truly incredible to notice that the US share is still less than 5% while France and UK shares combined fall under 3%. However, it is worth mentioning that Franco-Vietnamese relations have experienced significant developments in recent years, especially on the economic level.