China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) continued to see robust growth in the first eight months of 2015 as investment to countries along the Belt and Road surges, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Wednesday.
The ODI rose 18.2 percent to 473.4 billion yuan (74.3 billion U.S. dollars) during the January-August period, according to MOC spokesman Shen Danyang.
In August alone, outbound investment came in at 13.5 billion U.S. dollars, up 7 percent year on year.
Chinese companies' ODI to Hong Kong, the United States, Singapore and Australia surpassed one billion U.S. dollars in the first eight months, while those to countries along the Belt and Road jumped 48.2 percent to 10.73 billion U.S. dollars during the period.
The Belt and Road refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, proposed by China in 2013 with the goal of boosting trade and investment between Asia and Europe. The network incorporates more than 60 countries and regions, with a total population of 4.4 billion.
China revised an ODI regulation last October, streamlining procedures and allowing domestic enterprises to invest in more sectors abroad.
China became a net capital exporter for the first time last year when ODI outnumbered foreign direct investment (FDI). ODI grew 14.1 percent in 2014, eclipsing the 1.7-percent FDI growth.
Wednesday's data also showed China's service trade totalled 370.3 billion U.S. dollars in the first seven months of 2015, rising 14.1 percent from the same period last year.
