Foreign firms in China continue to expand business scale: survey

Foreign-funded companies in China have deemed the country's business environment promising, with the vast majority maintaining or expanding their business scale in the first quarter, according to a recent survey.

Foreign-funded enterprises were generally optimistic about the new opportunities of China's high-quality development, and their expectations and confidence in future growth remained stable, according to the survey conducted by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

Compared with the fourth quarter of 2021, 71 percent of surveyed foreign enterprises maintained their business scale in the first quarter, while 16.4 percent saw expansion, according to the survey.

It also showed that foreign companies remained optimistic about their development prospects in China, with 13.5 percent planning to increase investment in the world's second-largest economy.

Some 42.6 percent of foreign enterprises said they would choose the Yangtze River Delta as the main destination for investment.

Foreign enterprises had a somewhat favorable view of the municipal public infrastructure construction, promotion of market competition and acquisition of business sites, the survey showed, adding that they were generally satisfied with the macroeconomy and regulatory policies.

Foreign direct investment into the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 25.6 percent year on year to 379.87 billion yuan in the first quarter, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

In U.S. dollar terms, the inflow went up 31.7 percent year on year to 59.09 billion U.S. dollars.