The Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, Vu Hong Khanh, told the conference held in Ha Noi yesterday that FDI disbursement in the period rose by 6.5 per cent to $405 million over the same period last year.

"Production and businesses of FDI enterprises in Ha Noi have not been remarkably affected by escalating tension in the East Sea," Khanh said.

He said total investment in the city between January and June was estimated at VND871.1 trillion ($41.4 billion), increasing 10.2 per cent against the corresponding period last year.

The city’s budget spent VND7.7 trillion ($366.7 million) for investment in development, meeting 44 per cent of the whole year’s target.

He added that Ha Noi has been focusing on implementing ODA projects with disbursement of VND1.43 trillion ($68.1 million).

The city has been rushed to complete 22 key projects by 2015.

It has done its planning on improving the business environment as well as increasing its provincial competitiveness index (PCI). It carried out meetings with around 70 businesses in the capital to quickly solve their difficulties while continuing to apply policies on preferential lending rates.

Statistics from the committee showed that by the end of May, the city had 6,150 businesses registered for operations with total capital VND33.2 trillion ($1.58billion), reducing 1.5 per cent in comparison with the same period last year.

More than 5,300 firms stopped their operations, representing a 4.7 per cent year-on-year increase, of which 848 companies are implementing insolvency procedures.

He said the city would continue to resolve its difficulties in agriculture, rural areas, export products and support industry. It has supported small and medium sized enterprises with low lending rates between 7 and 8 per cent, he added