Vietnam's FDI inflow rises 3 pct to $4.8 bln in first four months

Vietnam has attracted $4.8 billion in disbursement of foreign direct investment during the first four months of 2017, the government said.

The actual inflow, a key foreign exchange source along with overseas remittances, was up 3.2 percent from the same period last year, the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Investment Agency said in a monthly report.

Foreign investors have committed to a total investment of $4.88 billion in 734 new FDI projects during the period, down 4 percent from a year ago, the report said. Additional funds to existing projects were estimated at $4.4 billion as of April 20.

This month mining has overtaken real estate in terms of committed funding, led by a newly licensed natural gas pipeline project worth $1.27 billion in the oil and gas sector.

Most of the new pledges still went to the manufacturing and processing sector, a trend seen over the past five years. The sector alone has attracted $7.36 billion in FDI pledges and additional funds.

South Korea was the biggest investor with more than $4 billion in pledges in the January-April period, followed by Japan with $1.85 billion and Singapore with $1.1 billion.

Last year, the country's FDI inflow hit a record high of $15.8 billion.