Vietnamese businesses have invested more than 279.6 million USD in projects abroad during the first seven months of 2018, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).

Of the figure, 238.33 million USD landed in 81 new projects while the remainder was pumped into 21 existing ones.

In the reviewed period, finance and banking caught the most interest from the Vietnamese investors, accounting for 37.8 percent of their total investments, or 105.77 million USD.

Enterprises from Vietnam have invested in 32 countries and territories from January to July. Among them, Laos lured the biggest share of the investment, with 84 million USD, representing 30 percent of the total. It was followed by Australia with 37.1 million USD, or 13.3 percent.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s foreign direct investment (FDI) soared 4.6 percent year on year to 22.94 billion USD in the first seven months of this year. Of the amount, fresh approvals increased 2.2 percent to 13.2 billion USD while investors added 4.95 billion USD to existing projects, equivalent to 84.2 percent of the same period last year.

Foreign investors injected their capital into 17 sectors and areas. Manufacturing and processing continued to be the most appealing sector by attracting 9.63 billion USD from January to July, accounting for 41.95 percent of the total FDI. The real estate trading came second with 5.6 billion USD (24.4 percent), followed by retail and wholesale with 1.69 billion USD (7.4 percent).

Japan remained the leader among foreign investors by pouring 6.88 billion USD into Vietnam during the period. The Republic of Korea followed closely with 5.46 billion USD, while Singapore came next with 2.73 billion USD.

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