Of the FDI pledges, $16.75 billion came to 3,883 new FDI projects, according to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Foreign investors injected capital into 19 fields and sectors in 2019. The processing and manufacturing industry continued to attract the highest proportion of capital, accounting for 64.6 percent of the total pledges at $24.56 billion.

It was followed by the real estate sector with 10.2 percent, or $3.88 billion, while the remainder went to wholesale and retail, and science and technology sectors, the report said.

South Korea was Vietnam’s leading FDI contributor this year at $7.92 billion, accounting for 21 per cent of the total, followed by Hong Kong with $7.87 billion, of which $3.85 billion came from an acquisition deal from the territory’s Beerco Limited, which acquired Vietnam Beverage Co., Ltd, a local brewery, at the beginning of the year.

Localities that attracted the most FDI were Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, followed by the southern provinces of Binh Duong and Dong Nai.

FDI disbursement reached a record $20.38 billion in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 7 percent.

Vietnam invested nearly $510 million abroad this year, mainly in wholesale and retail, agro-forestry-fisheries, and science and technology projects.