China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) in 151 countries and regions amounted to 346.8 billion yuan (about 50.4 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2019, up 0.1 percent year-on-year, according to data released by Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on Tuesday.

The ODI rose 6.3 percent year-on-year to 63.7 billion yuan in June.

Investment into 51 countries along the Belt and Road Initiative increased by 6.8 billion U.S. dollars, makes up 12.6 percent of the total investment during the period.

The structure of outbound investment continued to improve, with investment mainly going into sectors including leasing and business services, manufacturing and retail as well as information and technology, according to MOFCOM.

Chinese enterprises completed 161 mergers and acquisitions deals during the January-June period in countries including Finland, France and Peru, completing deals worth of 16.9 billion U.S. dollars in sectors including manufacturing and information technology services.

The number of newly signed overseas projects with contract value exceeding 50 million U.S. dollars came in at 389 in the first six months. Nearly 70 percent of overseas projects are in sectors including electricity and transport, which will effectively improve infrastructure base of the recipient country, according to MOFCOM.