A motorbike saddle production line of the Thai-invested TS Viet Nam Company in Noi Bai Industrial Zone of Ha Noi. — VNA/VNS Photo Danh Lam

The Foreign Investment Agency (FIA), under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, reports that as of August 20, nearly 770 new projects were licensed, representing registered capital of over $7.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 12.2 percent.

At the same time, 296 projects contributed an additional $5.22 billion in capital, 31.7 per cent higher than the previous period.

The FIA says foreign investment was funnelled into 18 industries, of which processing and manufacturing took the lead with 370 projects worth $10.817 billion, accounting for 85 percent of total foreign investment capital.

The real estate sector ranked second with more than $588 million, representing 4.7 percent of the total flow.

Japan is the largest of Viet Nam's 47 foreign investors with $4.35 billion (34.5 percent of the total), followed by Singapore ($3.78 billion, 29.9 per cent) and Russia ($1 billion, 8.1 percent).

Foreign businesses have invested in 50 cities and provinces across the country, not including offshore oil projects.

With an additional $2.8 billion in investment for the Nghi Son oil refinery, the central province of Thanh Hoa received the largest amount of FDI (an increase of 23.3 percent).

It was followed by the northern mountainous province of Thai Nguyen with $2.185 billion, while the Red River Delta province of Bac Ninh came third with $1.39 billion.

FDI disbursement in the period stood at $7.560 billion, up 3.8 percent from last year.

The FDI sector's export earnings surged 21.7 per cent against last year's level to more than $7.56 billion, accounting for 66.1 per cent of the country's total export revenue.

It imported $48.297 billion worth of goods, again representing 66.1 per cent of the national total and up 25.1 percent on 2012. — VNS