According to the General Statistics Office under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in the first quarter of this year Vietnamese businesses invested in 23 projects abroad totaling $149.5 million. Investments in banking and finance accounted for 70.2% of the total newly-licensed and added capital which is worth 105 million USD. Manufacturing and processing ranked second with 13.3%. The other fields were retail and wholesale with seven projects worth 8.5 million USD. Vietnamese businesses invested in 16 countries and territories in the first 4 months, with Laos leading the list accounting for 53.5 percent of total investment, followed by Cambodia with 17.3 percent.
