Non-financial outbound foreign direct investment (FDI) surged in the first six months of 2016, a development that analysts said may continue thanks to China's "One Belt, One Road" initiative.
China's non-financial outbound FDI jumped 58.7 percent year-on-year to about $88.9 billion, Shen Danyang, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), told a press briefing Tuesday.
Cumulative non-financial outbound FDI was $951.9 billion as of June, according to a report the MOFCOM sent to the Global Times on Tuesday.
Rising overseas investment shows that many competitive Chinese companies are pursuing international operations management and global asset allocation, Han Yong, an official with the MOFCOM, told another briefing Tuesday.
Han said that the overseas investment structure of Chinese companies is prioritized, with much money going into the manufacturing industry.
Outbound FDI mainly flows to business services, manufacturing and wholesale and retail trade, which accounted for 24.6 percent, 19.8 percent and 16.4 percent of the total, respectively, noted the report.
China's outbound FDI may continue to rise in the next few years, driven by the "One Belt, One Road" initiative and "go global" strategy, Bai Ming, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
In the first half of 2016, foreign investment into China also increased. The MOFCOM report showed more than 13,400 foreign-invested enterprises were set up in China, up 12.5 percent year-on-year.
"We welcome more manufacturing companies, especially those with state-of-the-art technologies, to invest in China," Shen said, noting related departments are developing policies to encourage more foreign investment in the Chinese manufacturing industry.
