BEIJING, March 17 -- Foreign direct investment (FDI) on the Chinese mainland jumped 17 percent year on year in the first two months of 2015, settling at 22.48 billion U.S. dollars, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced Tuesday.

The pace slowed from the 29.4 percent increase registered in January, however, it far exceeded the annual growth rate posted for 2014 of 1.7 percent.

Service industry FDI totaled 13.73 billion dollars in January-February, up 30 percent year on year. This accounted for 61 percent of all FDI during the period. In the service sector, financial services and transport services attracted the most investment.

Manufacturing FDI was comparatively lower, posting a growth rate of 7.1 percent, totalling 7.47 billion dollars during the period. It accounted for around 33 percent of the total FDI.

Along with the FDI surge, the number of newly registered foreign-funded companies jumped 38.6 percent in the first two months of the year, totalling 3,831, the data showed.

China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), Taiwan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Japanwere the top five FDI contributors during the period

Tuesday's data also showed outbound direct investment (ODI) by non-financial firms surged 51 percent to 17.42 billion dollars in the first two months, with Hong Kong SAR, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the European Unionnamed the top three investment destinations.

China has become a net capital exporter for the first time, with ODI outnumbering capital inflows in 2014.