China attracted 136.7 billion U.S. dollars in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2019, up 5.8 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday.

China remains the world's second largest recipient of FDI in 2019. And a total of 40,000 new foreign companies were registered in the country last year. 

"It took less than one year for Tesla to build a factory with production in Shanghai," said Qian Keming, vice commerce minister. "It exemplifies the 'speed of China.'"

Foreign investment in high-tech industry grew 25.6 percent last year to 38.6 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 28.3 percent of the whole foreign investment.

Some developed economies sped up their investment plans. Investment from Singapore, the Netherlands and South Korea increased 51.1 percent, 43.1 percent and 21.7 respectively, said Qian.

Free trade zones are increasingly attracting investment. "There are 6,242 foreign companies in 18 free trade zones, and 143.6 billion yuan were in use," said Qian.

Global investment environment

According to the "Global Investment Trends Monitor" published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), global foreign direct FDI remained flat in 2019, at 1.39 trillion U.S. dollars, a one percent decline from a revised 1.41 trillion U.S. dollars in 2018.

"This is against the backdrop of weaker macroeconomic performance and policy uncertainty for investors, including trade tensions," said the report.

FDI flows to developed countries remained at a low level, decreasing by a further six percent to an estimated 643 billion U.S. dollars. The European Union see the investment fell by 15 percent to 305 billion U.S. dollars, and the FDI in the United Kingdom down six percent as Brexit unfolds. While, flows to the United States remained stable at 251 billion U.S. dollars, according to UNCTAD.

Flows to developing economies remained unchanged at an estimated 695 billion U.S. dollars. Latin America and the Caribbean saw 16 percent increases in FDI.

In Asia, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region saw a 48 percent FDI decline among turbulence. In contrast, Singapore's FDI was up 42 percent in a buoyant ASEAN region.

"UNCTAD expects FDI flows to rise marginally in 2020 on the back of further modest growth of the world economy," the report said.