China's outward foreign direct investment (ODI) grew by 12.3 percent year on year to $153.71 billion in 2020, ranking first globally for the first time and accounting for 20.2 percent of the global share, according to the Annual Statistical Communiqué of China's Outward Foreign Direct Investment 2020 (link in Chinese) released Wednesday.

There were over 26,000 overseas Chinese-invested enterprises in Asia by the end of 2020, accounting for 58.5 percent of the total across the world. The number in North America and Europe was 6,000 and 4,600 respectively, accounting for 13.5 percent and 10.4 percent of the total.

The overseas Chinese-invested enterprises were mainly from industries such as manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and leasing and business services, with more than 26,000 enterprises across the three industries, accounting for 59.9 percent of the total number of overseas Chinese-invested enterprises.

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) was one of the main destinations for the Chinese mainland's ODI flow went. The ODI towards the SAR was $89.15 billion in 2020, accounting for 58 percent of its total ODI flow last year and nearly 80 percent of its ODI flow to Asia.

The country's overseas mergers and acquisitions involved 16 major industries in 2020. About 152 deals occurred in the manufacturing sector with a total value of $6.97 billion.

China has become the third largest source for global foreign direct investment in terms of stock, with ODI stock amounting to $2.58 trillion by the end of 2020, accounting for 6.6 percent of the total investment stock across the globe.

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China tops world for the first time in outward foreign direct investment