HO CHI MINH CITY, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City licensed 330 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with total registered capital of over 393.9 million U.S. dollars in the first five months of this year, experiencing year-on-year rises of 16.6 percent and 14.7 percent respectively, the municipal Department of Investment and Planning said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, 93 operational FDI projects in the city raised their capital by nearly 258.5 million U.S. dollars, up 14.8 percent in project number, but down 10.3 percent in investment capital.

Of the total registered capital, 32.4 percent was poured into manufacturing and processing sector, 31 percent into real estates, and 20 percent into wholesale, retail and repair of automobiles, motorbikes and other motorized vehicles.

From January to May, South Korea was the biggest foreign investor in Ho Chi Minh City with 111 million U.S. dollars, followed by Singapore with nearly 101 million U.S. dollars, Norway with roughly 70.1 million U.S. dollars, Japan with nearly 39.1 million U.S. dollars and China's Hong Kong with 30.5 million U.S. dollars.

In the five-month period, Vietnam licensed 1,076 FDI projects with a total registered capital of nearly 4.7 billion U.S. dollars, up 14.6 percent in project number but down 16.8 percent in registered capital, according to its Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Meanwhile, Vietnam saw 393 operational FDI projects increase their capital by roughly 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in total, down 47.4 percent.