Foreign direct investment inflows into Vietnam reached $2.7 billion in the first quarter of this year, up 7.1 percent from the same period in 2012, a government agency said.

New investment pledges in the January-March period also rose 2.2 percent from a year ago to $2.93 billion, the Planning and Investment Ministry said in a report.

Manufacturing industries have attracted most of the new pledges, followed by the real estate sector and the retail and wholesale sector, the report said.

Foreign direct investment, a key source of foreign exchange for Vietnam along with overseas remittances, has fallen since peaking at more than $60 billion in 2008, after which the economy started to slow as the government battled high inflation.

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