In the period, the city issued licenses to some 175 FDI projects with total fresh capital of over US$1.73 billion, up over 57% against last year. The past seven months also saw the city attract over US$2 billion of additional capital for 61 operational projects, pushing the total pledged capital to US$3.73 billion, or 70% higher than that in the year-ago period.

Notably, the processing and manufacturing industries topped the list of foreign investment within the past seven year, accounting for approximately 62% of the total pledged capital of HCMC via 25 licensed investment projects.

Though FDI in the property sector went down year-on-year, it still made up 19% of the new total investment in this year’s past seven months, with US$334 million in seven licensed projects.

The sectors of wholesale and retail and automobile repair service attracted 47 investment projects but attained just US$141 million of pledged capital while the education and training sector had only one project worth US$200,000.

Also according to the Department of Planning and Investment, FDI mainly flowed into industrial and processing zones in HCMC with US$1.2 billion through 10 newly-licensed projects.

The Management Authority for Southern Development (MASD) had 12 newly-licensed projects in this period with total registered investment of over US$202 million while Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) had only two projects worth US$27.3 million.

Meanwhile, Thu Thiem Management Authority and Tay Bac – Cu Chi Urban Management Authority obtained no project in the past seven months.