HANOI, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam has enticed foreign investment of nearly 35.5 billion U.S. dollars so far this year, posting a year-on-year decrease of 1.2 percent, its Foreign Investment Agency said on Wednesday.

Of the nearly 35.5 billion U.S. dollars, nearly 18 billion U.S. dollars were registered capital of 3,046 new foreign-invested projects, down 15.5 percent in capital; roughly 7.6 billion U.S. dollars were additional capital of 1,169 existing projects, down 9.7 percent in capital; and nearly 9.9 billion U.S. dollars were the money foreign investors used to buy shares or contribute capital to Vietnamese firms, up 59.8 percent.

Among countries and regions having investment in Vietnam from January to late December, Japan was the biggest investor with nearly 8.6 billion U.S. dollars, followed by South Korea with 7.2 billion U.S. dollars, and Singapore with 5 billion U.S. dollars.

In the 12-month period, realized capital of foreign-invested projects in Vietnam stood at 19.1 billion U.S. dollars, up 9.1 percent, said the agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.