Vietnam posts biggest-ever FDI in first 11 months

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HANOI, Nov 27 (Xinhua): Vietnam is estimated to lure more than 15 billion US dollars in the first 11 months of this year, the biggest-ever figure in such a period, local newspaper Youth reported today.
Nearly 1,300 foreign-invested projects worth over 13.4 billion dollars are estimated to be licenced in the first 11 months, and 314 existing projects are set to raise their combined capital by over 1.6 billion dollars, the newspaper quoted the foreign investment agency under the ministry of planning and investment as reporting.
Of the total FDI, nearly 5.7 billion dollars is set to be poured into the service sector, the agency said, noting that some 2.5 billion dollars is estimated to be invested in building apartments and offices for lease.
South Korea, with an investment of over 2.7 billion dollars, is the biggest among foreign investors in Vietnam in the first 11 months of this year, said the agency.
Vietnam is estimated to lure FDI of 16 billion dollars in 2007, up from 10.2 billion dollars in 2006, and 6.4 billion dollars in 2005, according to the agency.
By October 22, the country had 8,166 operational FDI projects with total registered capital of nearly 74.7 billion dollars.