Earlier in December, the agency, under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, announced that the country had attracted 12.7 billion USD in FDI for the year, down by 18 percent year-on-year due to the global economic slowdown. 

The new report showed up to 1,287 new foreign-invested projects were granted licences with a total registered capital of 8.6 billion USD in 2012 or equivalent to 71.2 percent of the total figure. 

The reviewed period also saw a slight decrease of 4.9 percent in FDI disbursement, reaching 10.46 billion USD. 

As many as 550 operating projects were allowed to increase their levels of capital by 7.7 billion USD, over doubling the figure of the previous year. 

The manufacturing and processing sectors attracted the lion's share of FDI, reaching 11.7 billion USD or 72 percent of the country's total registered capital. The real estate industry followed with 1.9 billion USD, 12.1 percent of the country's total capital. 

The report also showed that Japan remained Vietnam's largest foreign investor with 5.59 billion USD, 34.2 percent of the total FDI registered in the country. It was followed by Taiwan (China) (2.6 billion USD) and Singapore (1.9 billion USD). The country's other major sources of investment included the Republic of Korea, Samoa, British Virgin Islands and Hong Kong. 

The southern province of Binh Duong was the most attractive destination to foreign investors last year with more than 2.79 billion USD, accounting for 17.1 percent of the country's total registered capital. The central province of Ha Tinh, Hanoi and HCM City followed with 2.14 billion US and 1.3 billion USD, respectively. 

As of December 31, the country is home to 14,522 valid foreign-invested projects with capital totaling 210.5 billion USD with manufacturing and processing being the most attractive industries to foreign investors

Vietnamplus