Confidence Grows in ChinaWith China's pending entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), its commitment to WTO rules as well as a booming domestic economy, foreign investors are gradually renewing their confidence in the Chinese market, according to Chinadaily.The decrease in the amount of foreign capital being spent slowed down in July from the first six months of this year. The actually used amount of foreign capital in July, US$2.73 billion, fell 6.61 per cent from last July, compared with a 7.5-per-cent decrease for the first six months of this year. Meanwhile, foreign investors' imports of equipment and other products needed to conduct business in China rose 12 per cent to US$6.99 billion in the first seven months. Analysts believe that for many investors, China is still the first choice among developing countries. The actual spending of foreign capital in January-July still decreased by as much as 7.41 per cent to US$2 billion, according to statistics from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation. But the contracted foreign capital amounted to US$2.8 billion in the first seven months of this year, an increase of 24 per cent over the same period of last year. Economists expect the actual spending of foreign capital to stop declining as contracted foreign capital is gradually put into use. But before there is a lot more foreign investment, some deep-rooted trade problems in China such as shifting and conflicting rules, complicated examination procedures and limitations on foreign investment will have to be solved first, said analysts. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/ |