Disbursement of foreign direct investments (FDI) posted an encouraging 5.9-percent increase to 10.15 billion USD in the first 10 months of 2014.

The latest report from the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Investment Agency also revealed that in the first 10 months of the year, Vietnam attracted FDI worth 13.7 billion USD, or 71.2 percent of total FDI in the same period last year.

Of this total, exactly 9.95 billion USD came from more than 1,300 newly-licensed projects and the remainder, from 469 ongoing projects which increased their capital. 

Manufacturing and processing remained the hottest sector to foreign investors, attracting the lion's share of FDI at 9.7 billion USD, or 70.8 percent of the nation's total registered capital. Estate trading ranked second with 1.22 billion USD, and construction industries ranked third with 1.03 billion USD. 

Of the 56 countries and territories investing in Vietnam , the Republic of Korea was the leading source, with 3.6 billion USD or 26.3 percent of the country's total FDI, followed by Singapore with 2.64 billion USD or 19.3 percent, Hong Kong with 1.67 billion USD or 12.2 percent, and Japan with 1.66 billion USD or 12.1 percent. 

From January to October, foreign investors pumped capital into 50 provinces and cities nationwide, with Ho Chi Minh City taking the lead with 2.85 billion USD. Northern Bac Ninh province came in next with 1.38 billion USD while the southern provinces of Dong Nai and Binh Duong ranked third and fourth, with 1.37 billion USD and 1.36 billion USD, respectively. 

According to the agency, the foreign-invested sector posed a trade surplus of 13.8 billion USD in 10 months as its exports reached 82.48 billion USD, a 13.6-percent year-on-year increase, and its imports reached 68.66 billion USD, a 10.7-percent year-on-year increase.