Vietnam lured 25.4 billion U.S. dollars of foreign investment in the first nine months of 2017, up 34.3 percent year-on-year, the country's Foreign Investment Agency said on Thursday.

Of the total, 14.5 billion U.S. dollars was poured into 1,844 new projects, 6.75 billion U.S. dollars into 878 operational ones, and 4.16 billion U.S. dollars into buying shares of companies in Vietnam.

Vietnam's processing and manufacturing sector received the largest foreign investment of over 12.6 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 49.6 percent of the total capital registered, tailed by electricity production and distribution with nearly 5.4 billion U.S. dollars, and wholesale and retail sector with roughly 1.6 billion U.S. dollars.

As of Sept. 20, foreign capital disbursement reached 12.5 billion U.S. dollars, up 13.4 percent year-on-year, said the agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.