MEXICO CITY – Direct foreign investment in Mexico has fallen and officials blame it partly on the U.S. economic downturn.

Mexico's Economy Department says direct foreign investment fell to US$10.5 billion in the first six months of this year. That's a 20 percent drop from the same period a year before.

Still, the amount puts Mexico on target to reach its US$20 billion goal for 2008.

More than half of Mexico's direct foreign investment comes from the United States. The European Union follows with a third of all investment, and Canada provides 8 percent.

More than 40 percent of the investment went toward manufacturing.

The figures were announced Thursday.