The Vice Chairman of the municipal People's Committee, Vu Hong Khanh, told a conference held in Hanoi on July 9 that FDI disbursement in the period also rose by 6.5% to US$405 million over the same period last year.

"Production and businesses of FDI enterprises in Hanoi have not been remarkably affected by escalating tension in the East Sea," Khanh said.

He said total investment in the city between January and June was estimated at VND871.1 trillion (US$41.4 billion), increasing 10.2% against the corresponding period last year.

The city's budget spent VND7.7 trillion (US$366.7 million) on development investment, meeting 44% of the whole year's target.

He added that Hanoi has been focusing on implementing ODA projects with disbursement of VND1.43 trillion (US$68.1 million).

The city has been rushed to complete 22 key projects by 2015.

It has done its planning on improving the business environment as well as increasing its provincial competitiveness index (PCI). It held meetings with around 70 businesses in the capital to quickly solve their difficulties while continuing to apply policies on preferential lending rates.

Statistics from the committee showed that by the end of May, the city had 6,150 businesses registered for operations with total capital of VND33.2 trillion (US$1.58billion), reducing 1.5% in comparison with the same period last year.

More than 5,300 firms stopped their operations, representing a 4.7% year-on-year increase, of which 848 are implementing insolvency procedures.

He said the city would continue to resolve its difficulties in agriculture, rural areas, export products and support industry. It has supported small and medium sized enterprises with low lending rates of between 7-8%, he added.