Vietnam suffered a fall of one quarter in investment from abroad during the first five months of this year, official figures have revealed.

Less than $400m (£273m) was invested into the country during the period, the General Statistics Office said.

"With 209 projects licensed, the number of projects was up but the capital inflow fell down," an official statistician said.

Most of the money was invested in industrial and construction project.

Of all investment into the country, 82% went into projects in the two sectors, most directed at the commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and southern provinces of Binh Duong and Dong Nai.

Investors

South Korean investors accounted for about a quarter of all the cash injected into Vietnam.

Other major investments came from Japan and Malaysia.

"It shows that Vietnam is still only attractive to Asian investors while the United States, ranked 10 in the list, and European investors are still onlookers," the statistician said.

Vietnam wants to push through reforms to attract more investment from abroad.

It will phase out a dual pricing system for foreign invested enterprises by 2003.

And its power tariffs should be unified by 2004.