China’s actual use of FDI grows steadily in first 10 months

China witnessed steady growth in actual use of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first 10 months of 2018, with 701.16 billion yuan (about $101 billion) used during the period, up 3.3 percent year-on-year, according to a regular press conference held on Nov.15 by China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC). From January to October this year, a total of 49,545 foreign-funded new firms were built in the country, an increase of 89.3 percent over the same period of the previous year. In October alone, 3,623 overseas-funded new companies were established in China, a rise of 37.6 percent year-on-year, while the actual use of FDI increased by 7.2 percent over last October to 64.46 billion yuan.

The actual use of FDI in high-tech industry, high-tech manufacturing industry in particular, grew continuously. The country’s western regions saw remarkable growth in absorbing FDI and the pilot free trade zones absorbed the largest amount of foreign investment. China’s outbound investment and cooperation maintained a steady and healthy development in the first 10 months, said MOC spokesperson Gao Feng. In the period, the structure of China’s outbound investment was continuously optimized and irrational investment was effectively restrained.

Investors from China materialized a total of $89.57 billion non-financial outbound direct investment, which marked a 3.8 percent year-on-year increase, to 4,905 companies in 155 countries and regions around the world, Gao Disclosed. During the first 10 months, Chinese enterprises concluded $168.2 billion worth of overseas engineering contracts, and realized a turnover of $121.67 billion, an increase of 2.5 percent over the same period last year, said Gao. In the same period, China’s investment in 55 Belt and Road countries increased by $11.9 billion, 6.4 higher than the same period last year. In the first 10 months, Chinese authorities registered or approved 7,119 foreign-invested countries. About $107.94 billion investment was designed to be made overseas.

By Luo Shanshan

(People’s Daily)