Nay Pyi Taw, Oct 30 (IANS): Myanmar has permitted 101 foreign firms to invest in the country in the first half (April to September) of the 2015-2016 fiscal year, sources with the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration said on Friday.

The permitted investment sectors cover oil and gas, manufacturing, transport and communication, hotel and tourist, real estate, mining and other services, Xinhua news agency reported.

Of the total investment of $3.28 billion during the period, the oil and gas sector stood first with $2.05 billion, followed by manufacturing with $590.057 million, transport and communication with $270 million, real estate with $232.87 million, other services with $85.05 million, hotel and tourist with $50.75 million and mining with $2.183 million.

Foreign investment mainly flows into Myanmar from Australia, Brunei, China, China's Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Netherlands, Britain and the US.

According to DICA, the annual contracted foreign investment nearly doubled from $4.1 billion in 2013-2014 to $8.01 billion in 2014-2015, expecting to receive $six billion in the current fiscal year of 2015-2016.

Official statistics show that foreign contracted investment in Myanmar hit $57.5 billion as of September 2015 since late 1988 when the country opened to such investment.

China has remained the top foreign investor with $14.87 billion since 1988, followed by Singapore with $10.85 billion and Thailand with 1$0.297 billion.