An advertising board of MetFone - a company invested by Viettel in Myanmar. Viet Nam’s businesses invested a total of US$263.1 million in the first half of 2018. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

Viet Nam’s businesses invested US$263.1 million in total, including new projects and additional capital, in 27 countries and territories in the first half of this year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

During the period, 67 projects by Vietnamese enterprises were granted investment licences in foreign countries, with total investment of $222.5 million while 16 existing projects received permission to increase capital of $40.6 million in total.

Finance and banking topped Viet Nam’s overseas investments, with the total new and additional capital reaching $106.2 million, accounting for 40.4 per cent of total investment capital abroad, reported vneconomy.vn.

The agricultural, forestry and seafood sector came second with $63.79 million, accounting for 24.2 per cent, followed by the processing and manufacturing industries with total investment of $48.9 million, accounting for 18.6 per cent.

Among countries receiving Viet Nam’s investment, Laos ranked first with 31.9 per cent of total investment; Cambodia was second with 12.3 per cent of the total.

Meanwhile, the GSO’s statistics showed that the total social investment capital in the first six months of this year was estimated at VND747.6 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 10.1 per cent.

Of which, investment capital was VND249.8 trillion from the State-owned sector, a year-on-year surge of 3.3 per cent, accounting for 33.4 per cent of the total capital. The investment from the private sector and foreign direct investment sector reached VND308.4 trillion and VND189.4 trillion, respectively. — VNS