Image Source : China Visual

BEIJING, September 23 (TMTPOST) – From January to August, China's outward non-financial direct investment (ODI) reached 492.76 billion yuan, an increase of 7.2% (equivalent to 75.11 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 5.8%), according to the data released by the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday.

Investment in leasing and business services rose 25.1% year on year, investment in wholesale and retail trade rose 13% year on year, and investment in manufacturing, construction, scientific research, technical services, and other fields also grew.

Outward non-financial direct investment in membership countries along the "Belt and Road" climbed 8.2% year on year, accounting for 18.6% of the total amount, up 0.5 percentage points from the same period last year.

The data also shows that from January to August, China's foreign contracting projects completed turnover came to 611.37 billion yuan, up 2.3% (equivalent to $93.19 billion, up 1%). Newly signed contracts amounted to 846.17 billion yuan, down 5.9% (equivalent to $128.98 billion, down 7.2%). Contracted projects in countries along the "Belt and Road" completed a turnover of $50.75 billion, and $66.76 billion in new contracts, accounting for 54.5% and 51.8% of the total, respectively.

"At present, the world economy is facing multiple challenges, unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, and the global consensus on openness has weakened. China always supports economic globalization, unswervingly promotes a high level of opening up to the outside world, accelerates the construction of a new development pattern, and provides more market opportunities, investment opportunities, and growth opportunities for enterprises from all countries." Shu Jueting, a spokesperson from China's Ministry of Commerce said.

Since China's accession to the WTO, more countries have been involved in free trade cooperation with China. A global network of high-standard free trade zones that cooperate with member countries along the "Belt and Road" and other neighboring countries based on the periphery has been gradually formed. The next step will be making efforts to promote the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) upgrade strategy from the three aspects of "expansion, quality enhancement, and efficiency improvement".