China outbound investment up 47.4% yoy

Guests of the Langham Hungtington Hotel fly kongming lanterns, or hot-air paper ballons, to celebrate the Chinese Lantern Festival in Los Angeles, the United States, on March 5, 2015 [Xinhua]

The Chinese mainland made more than 278.4 billion yuan ($45.4 billion) of non-financial investment in overseas markets in the first five months of 2015, up 47.4 per cent year on year, official data showed on Thursday.

The outbound direct investment (ODI) during the period covered 3,426 overseas-based companies across 146 countries and regions, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce.

Meanwhile, China became the world’s top destination for foreign direct investment in 2014, edging the US out of that position for the first time since 2003.

China’s outbound investments will soon outgrow inward foreign direct investment (FDI), said Zhong Shan, China’s International Trade Representative and vice-minister of Commerce at a briefing of the Chinese Cabinet in January this year.

Nonfinancial outward direct investment reached $102.9 billion in January 2015, up 14.1 percent from 2013, the first time it topped the $100 billion mark, maintaining China’s position as the third-largest global outbound investor.

China has surpassed Canadians to become the biggest foreign buyers of real estate in the US by both sales and dollar volume, accounting for more than a quarter of all international spending, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

 

TBP and Agencies