In January 2016, China continuously maintained a good development trend in attracting foreign investment, with foreign investment in actual use reaching RMB88.25 billion (equal to USD14.07 billion), up 3.2% year-on-year (the same below).

 

Relevant data indicated that, in 2015, the foreign investment in actual use of China reached RMB781.35 billion, up 6.4% (excluding data from the fields of banks, securities and insurance), hitting a historical high in terms of scale of attracted foreign investment. The performance in attracting foreign investment in January 2016 means that the good trend is continuing.

 

Responsible person from the Department of Foreign Investment Administration of the Ministry of Commerce said that, in January, the foreign investment in China showed four highlights. The first one is the further optimization of the foreign investment structure by industry. In January, the foreign investment in actual use of the service industry reached RMB59.6 billion, up 5.7%, accounting for 67.6% of the national total. The foreign investment in actual use of the high-tech service industry reached RMB7.2 billion, up 123.4%.

 

The second one is the great increase of the investment from the United State, European Union and Japan. The foreign investment in actual use from the Top 10 countries and regions reached RMB84.38 billion, accounting for 95.6% of the national total foreign investment in actual use, up 2.6%. The investment from the United States, European Union and Japan had a great increase, respectively up 463.6%, 30.9% and 22.8%.

 

The third one is the increase of the number of enterprises concerned under mergers and acquisitions with foreign investment and the increase of the scale of attracted foreign investment. In January, 114 foreign-invested enterprises were established by foreign investors through mergers and acquisitions, with foreign investment in actual use reaching RMB34.4 billion, respectively up 6.5% and 15.7%. The proportion of foreign investment in actual use related to the mergers and acquisitions in the national total increased from 34.7% last year to 39%.

 

The fourth one is the obvious increase of foreign investment in the western part of China. In January, the foreign investment in actual use of the western part of China reached RMB5.87 billion, up 16.9%.

 

Some analyst believes that, although the global economy is recovering slowly, the investment in the forms of mergers and acquisitions is in the ascendant, and this will promote the recovery of the global economy. For China, continuous increase of investment will provide powerful support for trade growth. From the global perspective, investment protectionism should be abandoned and investment facilitation should be further promoted to provide impetus for global economic growth through robust investment.

 

Source: Translated from Invest Guangzhou, February 16, 2016