China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) posted steady growth in the first 10 months of the year, data showed Thursday. 

Non-financial ODI in 164 countries and regions amounted to 621.78 billion yuan (90.46 billion U.S. dollars) in the period, up 5.9 percent year-on-year, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. 

The pace accelerated from the 3.8-percent growth registered in the first three quarters. 

In October alone, China's ODI soared 28 percent year-on-year to 66.95 billion yuan. 

Chinese companies increased investment in countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative during the first 10 months, adding a total of 11.46 billion U.S. dollars of new investment in 56 countries, accounting for 12.7 percent of the total ODI. 

The structure of ODI continued to improve, with investment mainly going into sectors including leasing and business services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, according to the ministry. 

No new ODI projects were reported in the sectors of real estate, sports and entertainment, the ministry said. 

Big projects took the lion's share of the value of new deals. The number of newly signed overseas projects with a contract value exceeding 50 million dollars came in at 587, up 14 from the same period a year earlier. 

The value of infrastructure projects reached 130.4 billion dollars, accounting for 73.8 percent of the newly signed contracts. 

Major overseas projects created employment for locals. By the end of last month, Chinese companies had provided 830,000 jobs for local people, data also showed.