China's FDI Up 23.4% in January

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into China rose by 23.4 percent year on year in January to 10.03 billion U.S. dollars, said Yao Jian, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, Thursday.

A total of 2,243 new foreign-invested enterprises were approved in January, an increase of 20.2 percent year on year, Yao said.

The services sector received $4.69 billion of FDI, up 31.8 percent from January last year. While FDI inflows in the manufacturing sector rose 18.9 percent to $4.7 billion.

Yao said the growth of FDI into west China was higher than the national average. The western region attracted 510 million U.S. dollars of FDI in January, a year-on-year increase of 81.1 percent.

Investment in the eastern region grew 23 percent year on year to $8.98 billion, while investment in the central region fell 2 percent year on year to $540 million.

(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2011)