Vietnam has so far this year absorbed more than 14.72 billion USD in foreign direct investment, a 2.6 fold year-on-year increase, said the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Department.
The country licensed 130 new FDI projects totalling almost 7.5 billion USD in May, bringing the total number of newly-licensed projects in the first five months of the year to 324.
The nation has also permitted 132 projects to add a combined amount of more than 600 million USD. 
More than 83 percent of the registered capital focused on services and 16.2 percent on industry and construction while the remaining on agro-forestry and fisheries sectors.
With three investment projects worth 4.23 billion USD, Canada ranked first among 32 nations and territories investing in Vietnam in the first five months of 2008.
A 4.2 billion USD project invested by the Asian Coast Development Group aims to build five-star hotels with 9,000 rooms, a trade and an international conference centre, a tourism resort, a golf course and an entertainment site in Ho Tram in southern coastal Ba Ria-Vung Tau.
Ba Ria-Vung Tau topped the list of 36 localities in attracting FDI in the past five months.