The China Ministry of Commerce, said on Tuesday that China remained the world’s second-largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2019 with inflow up 5.8 per cent year-on-year to 941.5 billion yuan.
Qian Keming, China’s Vice Minister of Commerce, said that more than 40,000 new foreign-funded enterprises were established in 2019.
The number of projects receiving FDI above 100 million U.S. dollars stood at 834 in 2019, up 15.8 per cent from a year earlier.
The structure of FDI has been optimising as 266 billion yuan of FDI went to the high-tech sector in 2019, up 25.6 per cent year-on-year, accounting for 28.3 per cent of the total foreign direct investment.
Investment from Singapore climbed 51.1 per cent year-on-year in 2019, while that from the Netherlands expanded 43.1 per cent, just as the one from the Republic of Korea rose 21.7 per cent.
Pilot free trade zones (FTZs) played a larger role in attracting investment, according to the vice minister.
The entire 18 pilot FTZs saw 6,242 new foreign-funded enterprises set up in 2019.
FDI inflows into the pilot FTZs reach 143.6 billion yuan, accounting for 15 per cent of the total.
