BEIJING - Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland went up 3.4 percent year on year to $8.7 billion in April, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Friday.

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This came after a decline in March, when FDI edged down 1.47 percent year on year, the first drop in over a year.

In the first four months of 2014, China drew $40.3 billion in FDI, an increase of 5.0 percent from a year earlier, said MOC spokesman Shen Danyang.

About 55.8 percent of the FDI went into the service sector, while that to the manufacturing sector dropped 11.4 percent to $14.5 billion, accounting for 35.9 percent of the total.

In the January-April period, FDI from the Republic of Korea into the Chinese mainland saw the biggest rise, up 138.5 percent year on year. But FDI from Japan decreased 46.8 percent year on year and FDI from the United States went down 11.4 percent year on year.

With an inflow of $32.8 billion, the affluent east of China continued to grab the lion's share of FDI in the first four months.

However, the country's central and western regions have become increasingly attractive to foreign investors.

FDI inflows into the central region stood at $4.3 billion in the first four months, up 33.6 percent year on year. The west bagged $3.2 billion, up 2.7 percent year on year.

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