Laborers work at Hung Viet garment export factory in Hung Yen province, Vietnam Dec 30, 2020. REUTERS/Kham/File photo

HANOI  – Foreign investment in Vietnam surged in October as the manufacturing hub attracted more than double the financial pledges it has received monthly this year, amid a big boost in spending for new plants, official data showed on Friday.

So far in October, the Southeast Asian country has received foreign investment commitments worth $5.3 billion, against a monthly average of $2.2 billion in the rest of the year.

About 90 percent of the October inflows were driven by plans to build factories, according to data from Vietnam’s investment ministry.

Since the start of the year, the country has received foreign investment commitments worth $25.76 billion, 14.7 percent higher than the level in the same period last year.

Three-quarters of them went to the manufacturing and processing industry.

Pledges from China and Hong Kong combined were the highest so far this year, followed by Singapore and South Korea.

The actual investment in the first 10 months of 2023 rose 2.4 percent from the same period a year earlier to $18 billion, the data showed.