Viet Nam attracts $8.8 billion of FDI in the past seven months. Most of FDI went to processing and manufacturing industries. — Photo vov.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam has attracted US$8.8 billion in foreign direct investment in the year-to-date, an 8 per cent fall year-on-year, the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Investment Agency reported.

In the first seven months 1,068 new foreign projects with an investment of $6.92 billion received investment certificates, marginally up in money terms from last year.

What has dragged down the overall FDI figure is a steep 29.8 per cent fall in capital augmentation by operational foreign companies as 341 of them applied to bring in an additional $1.88 billion.

Most of the FDI flowed into 16 sectors, including processing, manufacturing, and real estate.

South Korea remained the top investor followed by the UK.

FDI disbursement in the past seven months reached $7.4 billion, up 8.8 per cent over the same period of last year.

HCM City was the most attractive destination as $2.4 billion found its way there. It was followed by the neighbouring provinces of Binh Duong with $1.11 billion and Dong Nai with $1.1 billion.

Exports by foreign businesses jumped by 15.1 per cent to nearly $64.7 billion. Their imports grew even faster – by 23.1 per cent to $56.7 billion. — VNS