China Q1 FDI rises 11.3%

File photo: Containers at the harbor of Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang Province [Xinhua]

File photo: Containers at the harbor of Ningbo, east China’s Zhejiang Province [Xinhua]

With foreign investors showing no signs of doubts over slowing growth, foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland jumped 11.3 per cent year on year in the first three months of 2015, settling at $34.88 billion, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced Thursday.

South Korea, Singapore, Japan, the US, Germany, Britain, France and Saudi Arabia were among the top ten contributors during the period. Despite political tensions, Japan remained in the top five nations that contributed to exceptionally strong growth in FDI inflows in the first two months of the year.

The pace slowed from the 17 per cent increase registered in January-February period, however, it far exceeded the annual growth rate posted for 2014 of 1.7 per cent.

Service industry FDI totaled $21.59 billion in the first quarter, up 24.1 per cent year on year. This accounted for 61.9 per cent of all FDI during the period. In the service sector, financial services, distribution and transport services attracted the most investment.

Manufacturing FDI was down 3.6 per cent year on year to $11.22 billion during the period. It accounted for 32.2 per cent of the total FDI.

Along with the FDI surge, the number of newly registered foreign-funded companies increased 22.4 per cent in the first three months of the year, totaling 5,861, the data showed.

China’s outbound direct investment (ODI) by non-financial firms surged 29.6 per cent to $25.79 billion in the first quarter.

China’s overall ODI has accumulated to $672.1 billion by the end of March this year.

China is still importing more capital than it is exporting and foreign investment is not leaving the country, the Chinese trade ministry said on Thursday.

China has become a net capital exporter for the first time, with ODI outnumbering capital inflows in 2014.

 

TBP and Agencies

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