FDI inflow rises as investors bet on rebound

Foreign investor confidence in China’s prospects continues to strengthen as the economy maintains restorative growth momentum, which drove up investment inflow in the first two months of the year, a Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said on Thursday.

In particular, foreign investment in high-tech industries registered notable growth as China accelerates its construction of a new development paradigm, spokesperson Gao Feng said. The new development paradigm refers to “dual circulation,” in which domestic and overseas markets reinforce each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay.

He said that industries hit hard by the COVID-19 epidemic last year, including the hotel and catering sectors as well as wholesale and retail trade, saw a quick rebound.

Foreign direct investment on the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 31.5 percent year on year to 176.76 billion yuan (US$27.17 billion) in the first two months, earlier ministry data showed.

In US dollar terms, inflow rose 34.2 percent year on year to US$26.07 billion.

Foreign investment in the services industry came in at 141.74 billion yuan during the period, up 48.7 percent year on year.

FDI on the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 6.2 percent year on year to a record high of 999.98 billion yuan in 2020.

Meanwhile, China’s non-financial outbound direct investment went down 7.9 percent year on year in the first two months of 2021, official data showed. The ODI amounted to 99.38 billion yuan in the period, according to the Ministry of Commerce.