A file photo shows people enjoy food at a restaurant. [Photo: Xinua]

During the first seven months of the year, China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) rapidly increased, as did services trade in H1, according to official data released Wednesday.

China's ODI soared to 673.24 billion yuan (about 102.75 billion U.S. dollars) from January to July, a 61.8 percent year-on-year increase, Ministry of Commerce (MOC) spokesperson Shen Danyang told a press conference.

The ODI in July alone reached 91.01 billion yuan (13.89 billion U.S. dollars), down 9.5 percent month on month, according to the MOC.

During the first seven months of the year, China's ODI surpassed its foreign direct investment (FDI), meaning China was a net capital exporter, Shen said.

In the first seven months of the year, China's FDI rose 4.3 percent year on year to 491.51 billion yuan (77.13 billion U.S. dollars), according to MOC data.

The United States and Germany were among the most popular investment destinations for Chinese companies. In the first seven months of the year, ODI in both countries more than doubled from a year earlier.

Large overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&A) contributed to the ODI growth boost. During the first seven months of the year, China's overseas M&A value stood at 54.3 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for more than half the total ODI.

The M&A value in the first seven months of 2016 surpassed the volume registered for the whole of 2015. From January to July, there were M&As in 63 countries and regions, covering 15 sectors, including information transmission, services, software and manufacturing.

By the end of July, China's accumulated investment under the Belt and Road Initiative hit 51.1 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 12 percent of the country's total ODI.

Launched in late 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative is an umbrella term for the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It will be a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa, along ancient trade routes.

The MOC also released China's services trade data at the press conference. China's services imports and exports amounted to 2.53 trillion yuan during the first six months of 2016, up 21.5 percent year on year. Exports in maintenance and repairs, advertising, finance, technology, telecommunications, and computer and information services grew rapidly.

Services trade accounted for 18.6 percent of the country's total imports and exports during in H1, 4.1 percentage points higher than the same period in 2015.