Of the total, $2.93 billion came from newly-licensed projects, a year-on-year increase of 2.2 per cent, and the remaining $3.10 billion was additional capital from operational FDI projects, up 277 per cent.

The March figure helped bring the total FDI capital of the past three months to $6.034 billion, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Processing and manufacturing attracted most investment with 84 new projects, capitalized at $5.539 billion, accounting for 91.8 per cent of the total.

Real estate came in second, recording newly registered and added capital of $249.84 million, or 4.1 per cent of the total.

It was followed by wholesale, retail and repairs with 29 new projects valued at $85.2 million.

Japan was the largest investor in Vietnam during the first quarter of this year, pouring $3.16 billion into the country. Singapore and the Republic of Korea were the second and third biggest investors, respectively.

Thanh Hoa province has attracted the most foreign investment thanks to the added $2.8 billion from the Nghi Son oil refinery project, followed by Thai Nguyen, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Haiphong.

As of March 22, $2.7 billion in FDI has been disbursed, an increase of 7.1 per cent from a year earlier.