According to a report by the ministry's Foreign Investment Agency, Vietnam saw a surge of 54.8% in FDI against the same period last year, reaching US$19.22 billion, including US$ 11.83 billion poured into new projects.

Thanh Hoa was the most attractive destination to foreign investors as it received US$3.06 billion in FDI, accounting for 15.9% of the total FDI poured into 60 provinces and cities.

It was followed by the northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Nam Dinh with US$2.85 billion or 14.83% and US$2.19 billion or 11.4%, respectively.

Foreign direct investment flowed into 18 industries and sectors in which the processing and manufacturing sector attracted the biggest of US$ 9.48 billion, accounting for 49.3% of total FDI registered in the country. Electricity production and distribution ranked second with US$5.25 billion or 27%, while the mining sector came third with US$1.28 billion or 6.68%, the report said.

By June 20, FDI disbursement experienced a year-on-year increase of 6.5% to US$7.72 billion, the agency said. 

There are 1,183 new foreign-invested projects with a total registered capital of US$11.83 billion which is an increase of 57.9% against the same period last year.

Japan became Vietnam’s leading investor in the first half of 2017, with FDI of US$5.08 billion, making up 26.5 percent of the total FDI. the Republic of Korea came second with investment of US$4.95 billion, or 25.8%, and Singapore came third with US$3.48 billion, or 18.1%.