In addition, FDIdisbursement surged by 1 percent, hitting 9.1 billion USD, according tothe Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI).
The ForeignInvestment Agency (FIA) under the MPI also revealed an increase in newregistered investment capital. During the period, around 860 newforeign-invested projects, valued at around 8.9 billion USD, weregranted licences, equal to 70 percent of the same period last year.
Meanwhile, 264 established projects received approval to raise theircapital levels by a combined 2.4 billion USD, a jump of 38 percentagainst last year.
While some foreign investors haveexpressed concern about domestic macroeconomic fluctuations, FIA'sDirector Do Nhat Hoang said that investors continued to seek localopportunities based on present levels of development.
Hoang added that in this month alone, 86 projects had raised their capital, the highest number so far this year.
This could be a good sign as FDI business growth could serve as evidence of good investment conditions.
The processing and manufacturing sectors jumped by 5.6 billion USD,accounting for half of the total FDI, with 362 newly registered projectsand 190 increasing their capital.
Electricity productionand distribution sectors contributed 2.5 billion USD while theconstruction industry made up 712 million USD.
Hong Kongremained Vietnam's largest source of foreign investment with 2.98billion USD, making up 26 percent of the country's total FDI capital,followed by Singapore with 1.55 billion USD and Japan with 1.31 billionUSD.
The northern province of Hai Duong attracted thelargest amount of FDI, drawing 2.56 billion USD, 23 percent of thenational total. The province granted a licence to the Hai DuongThermoelectricity plant operated via the Build-Operate-Transfer model ata total investment of 2.26 billion USD.
FDI businesses experienced 43.2 billion USD in export turnover while imports made 38 percent.
The FDI sector enjoyed an export trade surplus of 4.9 billion USD inthe same period. However, the department said that some FDI enterpriseshad to borrow money from credit organisations in Vietnam, negativelyaffecting the country's investment environment.
The Government has asked relevant agencies to strictly manage foreign currency and FDI activities. /.