A bank staff member counts U.S. dollar banknotes at a bank in Tancheng County of Linyi City, east China's Shandong Province, Jan. 7, 2016. (Photo: Xinhua/Zhang Chunlei)
Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland continued to grow steadily in January despite slowing overall growth in the world's second largest economy.
FDI, which excludes investment in the financial sector, rose 3.2 percent year on year to 14.07 billion U.S. dollars last month, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Monday.
Investment in the country's burgeoning service sector accounted for 67.6 percent of total inflow during the period.
FDI in the high-tech service industry more than doubled to 7.2 billion yuan (1.1 billion U.S. dollars).
Investment from the United States, the European Union and Japan rose the most, up 463.6 percent, 30.9 percent and 22.8 percent, respectively.
China's economy grew by 6.9 percent year on year in 2015, its lowest annual expansion in a quarter of a century.