Hanoi (VNA) - Foreign investors inVietnam disbursed a total of 9.85 billion USD from begining of this year to July 20, up 8.8 percent from ayear earlier, the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry ofPlanning and Investment said.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) commitmentssoared 4.6 percent year on year to 22.94 billion USD in the January-July period.Of the amount, fresh approvals increased 2.2 percent to 13.2 billion USD whileinvestors added 4.95 billion USD to existing projects or equivalent to 84.2percent of the same period last year.

Foreign investors injected their money in17 sectors and areas. Manufacturing and processing continued to be the mostappealing sector by attracting 9.63 billion USD from January to July,accounting for 41.95 percent of the total registered investment. It wasfollowed by real estate trading with 5.6 billion USD (24.4 percent) and retailand wholesale with 1.69 billion USD (7.4 percent).

Japan remained the leading foreign investorby pouring 6.88 billion USD into Vietnam during the period. The Republic of Korearanked second with 5.46 billion USD, while Singapore came next with 2.73billion USD.

According to the FIA, foreign investorswere present in 59 cities and provinces. Of them, the capital lured the largestshare 6.17 billion USD. Ho Chi Minh City and the southern province of Ba Ria-VungTau were runners-up with 4.12 billion USD and 2.15 billion USD.-VNA