Foreign direct investment (FDI) into China rose marginally last month, the government announced yesterday, as investment into the giant from the rest of Asia remained largely static.
Incoming FDI, which excludes financial sectors, was up a mere 0.4 percent year-on-year last month to US$8.44 billion, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said, while the figure for the first four months of this year rose 1.21 percent to US$38.34 billion.
The majority of it comes from a group of 10 Asian countries and regions including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan, whose investment crept up only 0.21 percent to US$33.15 billion over the period.
However, EU investment into the world’s second-largest economy leapt 29.7 percent to US$2.47 billion, while investment from the US soared 33.2 percent to US$1.40 billion.
“Investment from the EU and US into China increased sharply,” commerce ministry spokesman Shen Danyang (沈丹陽) said.
China’s overseas investment in non-financial sectors between January and April rose 27 percent year-on-year to US$29.5 billion, he added.
In March, FDI had risen 5.65 percent to US$12.4 billion.
FDI fell last year for the first time in three years due to global economic uncertainties led by Europe’s debt crisis, a slowdown at home and regional political tensions.
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