Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 17.3 percent year on year to 798.33 billion yuan ($117.57 billion) in the first seven months of the year, the Ministry of Commerce said Thursday.

In U.S. dollar terms, the inflow went up 21.5 percent year on year to $123.92 billion.

The service industry saw FDI inflows jump by 10 percent year on year to 598.92 billion yuan, while that of high-tech industries surged by 32.1 percent from a year earlier, data from the ministry showed.

Specifically, FDI in high-tech manufacturing rose 33 percent from the same period a year ago, while that in the high-tech service sector surged 31.8 percent year on year, the data showed.

During this period, investment from the Republic of Korea, the U.S., Japan and Germany climbed by 44.5 percent, 36.3 percent, 26.9 percent and 23.5 percent, respectively.

In the January-July period, FDI flowing into the country's western region reached a rapid year-on-year increase of 41.2 percent, followed by 30 percent in the central region, and 15.2 percent in the eastern region.

Meanwhile, China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) reached 424.28 billion yuan in the first seven months of the year, up 4.4 percent year on year, official data showed Thursday.

In U.S. dollar terms, ODI rose 3.6 percent from a year ago to $65.06 billion, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

(Source: Xinhua with edits; Cover photo via CFP)