According to the foreign investment watchdog, foreign investors were very keen on investing in industry and construction as they poured a staggering 32.3 billion USD into 484 projects in those fields during the first nine months of 2008.

The FIA estimated that investment in projects in the fields of industry and construction accounted for 57.48 percent and 54.68 percent of the total FDI and the overall number of projects, respectively.

The service sector attracted overseas investment of 23.7 billion USD for 361 projects while the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors drew in just 1.12 billion USD.

The FIA reported that has climbed into first place on the list of 40 countries and territories who have invested in in the past nine months.

The Southeast Asian country has registered 14.8 billion USD for 37 projects, accounting for 26.45 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively, of the registered FDI and the number of investment projects.

The second-largest foreign investor was , with 8.6 billion USD and 116 projects, followed by , and .

In the past nine months, 8.1 billion USD in FDI was disbursed, an increase of 37.3 percent over the same period last year, according to the FIA.-