China Nov FDI Up More Than 90%, ODI First 2017 Monthly Growth

     BEIJING (MNI) - Foreign direction investment (FDI) in China surged to

CNY124.92 billion in November, up 90.7% on a year-on-year basis, the Ministry of

Commerce said Thursday.

     From January to November, FDI rose 9.8% y/y to CNY803.62 billion.

     In November, 4,641 new foreign companies were set up in China, a 161.5%

jump from a year earlier. From January to November, the number was 30,815, a

26.5% gain.

     "Rapid growth of newly-established foreign companies effectively

facilitated the inflow of foreign investment," Gao Feng, spokesman for the

ministry, said Thursday at a press briefing. A concentration of investment

capital for large projects and the Chinese government's new policies to boost

foreign investment also buoyed FDI growth, Gao said.

     the high-tech sector saw rapid growth of foreign investment, with the

high-tech manufacturing FDI climbing 9.9% y/y to CNY60.15 billion and high-tech

service investment jumping 100.9% y/y to CNY177.1 billion.

     Central China benefited the most from the government's policies to boost

foreign investment, with an investment growth of 29% y/y, resulting in total

foreign investment of CNY52.09 billion.

     Investors from Taiwan (+47.2% y/y), Hong Kong (20.1%) and Japan (7.4%) were

the leaders for investment in China, the ministry said.

     Chinese outbound direct investment (ODI) of non-financial institutions

overseas also experienced a relatively high growth of 34.9% y/y to $21.24

billion in November, the first time this year that the monthly gain was in the

positive territory, according to Gao.

     But the rise in November could not offset the slump in the first 10 months

of the year. ODI of non-financial institutions from January to November dropping

33.5% y/y basis to $107.55 billion, with the decline narrowing 7.4 percentage

points compared with the first 10 months. 

     Chinese ODI was invested in 5,796 companies in 174 foreign countries.

     The government also claimed to have sharply reduce the number of foreign

investment that did not make economic or political sense. 

     "Unreasonable outbound investment (of Chinese companies) has furthered be

curbed," Gao said.

     ODI in November mainly flowed into the rental and commercial service

sectors, as well as retail, manufacturing and high-tech industries overseas,

while property and sports and entertainment -- which are hotspot areas for

Chinese companies early in the year  -- saw no new investment in November,

according to the ministry.

     Chinese companies increased investment in 59 companies involved in the One

Belt One Road program, the massive project to link China with Europe, the Middle

East and Africa via land and water routes championed by Chinese President Xi

Jinping. These investments grew 11.5% year-over-year to $12.37 billion, with the

growth rate 3.2 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: iris.ouyang@marketnews.com

--MNI BEIJING Bureau; +1 202-371-2121; email: john.carter@mni-news.com

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