Brunei, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam all saw higher foreign direct investment (FDI) to bring the Southeast Asian total to 107 billion dollars in 2003 compared to 94 billion dollars in 2002, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) said.

But while high-growth economies attracted more FDI, "countries suffering from political tensions attracted less," it said in a statement released by the UN Development Programme country office here.

It cited as an example the Philippines, where a bloodless popular revolt toppled the democratically elected president Joseph Estrada in 2001 and his successor, Gloria Arroyo, survived a military revolt last year.

FDI flows to the Philippines fell dramatically to 319 million dollars in 2003 from an annual average of 1.343 billion dollars between 1992 and the 1997 Asian crisis, it said.

In Asia, the top FDI recipients were China, Hong Kong and Singapore with more than five billion dollars each every year.

"Asia and the Pacific attracted more FDI than most other regions, thus remaining the largest recipient of FDI in the developing world," the report said.

"Out of 55 economies for which data is available, 34 received higher flows than in 2002, and 21 lower inflows."

Ten economies accounted for about 90 percent of all the inflows, it said.

The UN considers foreign direct investment key for the financing, telecommunications, energy, financial services and industry sectors.