Vietnam attracts 15 billion USD of FDI in nine months Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Vietnam attracted more than 15 billion USD of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first nine months of this year, a surge of 36.1 percent year-on-year, according to the latest report by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI). Of the figure, 9.294 billion USD was poured into 872 newly-licenced projects, a yearly increase of 34.9 percent, while the rest 5.71 billion USD was added to 340 running projects, up 37.9 percent. An estimated 8.62 billion USD was disbursed, up 6.4 percent compared to the figure of the same period in 2012. The processing and manufacturing industry led all sectors in attracting FDI with 400 new projects and nearly 13 billion USD in both total new and additional capital, accounting for 86.4 percent of the total amount. Real estate followed with 588.11 million USD, while the science and technology sector came next with 380.59 million USD. Japan topped the list of 48 countries and territories investing Vietnam , with 4.736 billion USD, accounting for 31.6 percent of the total registered FDI, followed by Singapore with 3.95 billion USD and the Republic of Korea , 2.636 billion USD. Fifty provinces and cities nationwide welcomed foreign investors in the reviewed period. The northern central province of Thanh Hoa attracted the largest amount of FDI capital with 2.92 billion USD, followed by the northern midland province of Thai Nguyen and the northern port city of Hai Phong with 2.158 billion USD and 1.94 billion USD, respectively. The Foreign Investment Agency under the MPI announced that exports of the FDI sector (including sales of crude oil) in the nine-month period are estimated to exceed 63 billion USD, a 22 percent rise year-on-year and accounting for 66 percent of the country’s total export earnings.-VNA