The US ranked the top in investment flows.

Disbursement totaled $6.5 billion from January to August, compared with $7.1 billion in the same period in 2008, according to a report released Tuesday by the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

US investors registered $3.95 billion worth of investments for 21 new projects and expanding 10 existing ones, the report said. This accounted for 37.8 percent of the total committed FDI.

Taiwan was second with $1.35 billion in registered capital and British Virginia ranked third with $1.25 billion.

Ba Ria Vung Tau was at top of the country’s most attractive areas for FDI, with the province luring $6.46 billion in FDI in the first eight months. It was followed by HCMC, Binh Duong, Hanoi and Dong Nai.

The Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper has cited Phan Huu Thang, director of the Ministry of Planning & Investment’s foreign investment department, as saying FDI enterprises have made big contributions to narrowing Vietnam’s trade deficit in the first eight months.

“While the country’s gap in the first eight months totaled $5.1 billion, FPI firms exported a net value of $3.49 billion,” he said.