Hanoi, Sept. 6 -- Vietnam's foreign direct investment (FDI) disbursement reached 15.4 billion USD in the January-August period, up 8.8% from the same period last year, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO).

This marks the highest level for the eight-month period in five years.

Of the total, the manufacturing and processing sector received the lion's share, with 12.57 billion USD, accounting for 81.6% of all disbursed FDI. It was followed by real estate with 1.24 billion USD, or 8%, and electricity, gas, and water production and distribution with 563.6 million USD, or 3.7%.

According to the NSO, the country attracted 26.14 billion USD in FDI in the first eight months of this year, up 27.3% from the same period last year.

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