Chinese FDI advances 5.8 percent last year

China’s inbound foreign direct investment expanded 5.8 percent in 2019, the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday.

FDI totaled 941.5 billion yuan (US$136.8 billion) last year, with more than 40,000 foreign-funded enterprises being established.

In value terms, China remained the second-largest target for FDI in the world, according to the ministry.

Foreign investment in high-tech industries surged 25.6 percent year on year to 266 billion yuan, accounting for 28.3 percent of total FDI, ministry data showed.

China's pilot free trade zones saw FDI inflow reach 143.6 billion yuan, accounting for 15 percent of total FDI.

Foreign investors may increase their input in China’s financial and health-care sector this year as the country continues to open its market further and improve the business environment, according to a recent report by the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

“With the implementation of China’s new foreign investment law, we may see more cross-border transactions in sectors like insurance and health care,” said Shen Yuxin, a partner at the firm.

Earlier this month, German insurance giant Allianz SE announced the opening of Allianz (China) Insurance Holding Co: China’s first wholly foreign-owned insurance company.

For the first time since 2015, foreign companies bought more assets in China in 2019 than Chinese corporates acquired overseas.