HO CHI MINH CITY, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City licensed 254 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with total registered capital of 288.8 million U.S. dollars in the first quarter of this year, posting respective year-on-year rises of 23.3 percent and 4.3 percent.

Of the capital, 52.7 percent was poured into the real estate sector, 19.4 percent into science and technology, 14.8 percent into wholesale, retail and repair of motorized vehicles, and 8 percent in manufacturing and processing, the city’s Department of Planning and Investment said Wednesday.

From January to March, the city also saw 53 operational FDI projects increase their capital by 62 million U.S. dollars.

Meanwhile, Vietnam attracted total FDI of over 5.1 billion U.S. dollars, up 30.9 percent against the same period last year, according to its General Statistics Office.

Specifically, the country licensed 785 new FDI projects totaling more than 3.8 billion U.S. dollars, up 27 percent in project number and up 80.1 percent in registered capital, and saw 279 operational FDI projects raise their capital by roughly 1.3 billion U.S. dollars.