China saw steady foreign direct investment (FDI) growth in May, official data showed Thursday.
FDI reached 63.83 billion yuan (about 9.47 billion U.S. dollars) last month, up 8.5 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM).
Total foreign investment actually utilized in the past five months stood at 369.06 billion yuan, up 6.8 percent year on year, MOFCOM data showed.
A total of 16,460 new foreign-invested firms were set up during the January-May period.
FDI in the high-tech manufacturing and service sectors posted robust growth, rising 23.2 percent and 68.9 percent respectively during the period.
China's central and western regions reported steady FDI inflows, up 5.2 percent and 25.2 percent year on year respectively.
FDI from Germany surged 100.8 percent year on year in the past five months, MOFCOM data showed.
China bucks global trend with record FDI inflows in 2018
Despite global FDI flows sliding by 13 percent in 2018 from the year before, China reversed the trend by attracting 139 billion U.S. dollars of FDI, a UN report said Wednesday.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) World Investment Report 2019 said FDI to East Asia rose by 4 percent to 280 billion dollars in 2018, with inflows to China increasing by 4 percent to an all-time high.
The 139 billion dollars into China accounted for more than 10 percent of the world's total 1.3 trillion- dollar FDI, said UNCTAD.
More liberalized investment climate drives up FDI
"Liberalizing efforts helped drive FDI flows at a high level and last year it was a record level again, the highest in history," said James Zhan, director of UNCTAD's division on investment and enterprise, at a press conference.
James Zhan, director of the division on investment and enterprise of UNCTAD. /Reuters Photo
He said that China put in place liberalization measures that included a new investment law and improved the investment climate so that the list of restrictive investment areas was reduced.
According to the report, foreign investors established more than 60,000 new companies in China in 2018.
Zhan explained that China itself is a large market. "That is why foreign countries are still producing in China."
"There are a number of steps that China has been taking of a positive nature in opening up its markets for greater FDI and foreign investment," said UNCTAD Secretary-General, at the same occasion.
Kituyi noted the national treatment accorded to foreign investors by the newly-adopted investment law in China, the China International Import Expo in Shanghai last November, and the most recent Belt and Road summit, saying "all are positive market signals that encourage more foreign investment."