Total foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam reached nearly 1.2billion USD in the first two months of this year, equivalent to just77.5 percent of that in the same period last year.

According tothe Foreign Investment Agency's report, capital disbursed in the periodincreased by 7.1 percent against last year's same period to reach 1.2billion USD.

Further, during this period, 148 new FDI projectswere licensed, with a combined registered capital of 712.29 million USD,while 60 existing projects increased their registered capital, beingvalued at 480.5 million USD.

FDI was directed into 13 sectors, inwhich processing and manufacturing remained the most attractiveindustry, drawing 952 million USD into 65 new FDI projects and 40existing projects.

Meanwhile, real estate came in second,attracting 111.43 million USD in FDI during the period or 9.3 percent ofthe total FDI into the country, followed by retail and repairingservices, with 71.22 million USD.

British Virgin Islands, with351.39 million USD in capital, led 28 countries and territoriesinjecting capital into Vietnam, and accounted for 29.5 percent, followedby the Republic of Korea and Hong Kong (China).

HCM City was themost attractive destination for FDI among 23 provinces and citiesreceiving FDI in the first two months of this year, with a FDI inflow of497.9 million USD into the southern hub, accounting for 41.7 percent.

Also,northern Hai Phong province attracted 213.86 million USD in FDI, or17.9 percent, ranking the second most attractive destination, assouthern Binh Duong province ranked third with 134.04 million USD inFDI.

Of note, the FDI sector ran a trade surplus of 2.03 billion USD in the period, statistics showed.-VNA