FDI growth drops in April, slow recovery blamed

China's actualized foreign direct investment (FDI) grew at a slower pace in April, according to figures released Thursday by the Ministry of Commerce.

Excluding foreign investment flows into the fields of banking, securities and insurance, the country attracted $8.44 billion in FDI in April, up 0.4 percent from a year earlier, Shen Danyang, spokesman for the ministry, told a press conference Thursday.

This marked a sharp fall in FDI growth, compared to the rise of 5.65 percent in March and 6.32 percent in February, according to the ministry.

Prior to a slight rise in FDI in February, growth in the country's foreign investment inflows had seen a downward trend for the previous eight consecutive months.

During the first four months this year, the country's FDI totaled $38.3 billion, an increase of 1.21 percent year-on-year.

Foreign investment in the country has seen slight fluctuations amid the weak global economic recovery, Shen said. But the upward trend seen in the nation's FDI growth since February indicates the competitiveness of the Chinese economy, he noted.

FDI from the 27 member countries of the European Union rose in the first four months by 29.68 percent year-on-year to $2.47 billion, and from the US it jumped 33.2 percent to $1.40 billion, according to Shen.