Use of FDI Surged by 18% in First Five MonthsAgainst a gloomy world economic outlook, China's actual use of foreign direct investment (FDI) jumped by 17.98 per cent in the first five months of this year, according to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation (MOFTEC).In the meantime, China approved the establishment of 9,421 foreign-funded enterprises, 21.97 per cent up from the corresponding period of last year. Analysts said the surging FDI fully demonstrates foreign investors' keen interest in the Chinese market despite liquid growth of the world economy. The rapid growth also beats MOFTEC's earlier prediction that the country's use of FDI would rise about 5 per cent this year. Experts say swarming in foreign investment also indicates that FDI in China has bailed out of the negative influences of the 1997 Southeast Asian financial crisis, which dragged down China's use of FDI to a negative growth of 11.37 per cent in 1999 and a mere 0.93 per cent rise last year. Between January and May, the actual FDI in China reached US$15 billion while the contractual foreign investment registered a hefty 42.29 per cent rise to US$25.97 billion, according to the MOFTEC. Ma Xiuhong, assistant minister of MOFTEC, said earlier this year that although a slowdown in the world's economic growth is making investors more cautious in making investment decisions, China's rapid economic growth in the past three years and the country's good economic performance in the first quarter of this year made the country a favored target for foreign investors. Ma said the government will continue to try its best to attract foreign investors into the country. Paralleling with the hefty rise in FDI, China's foreign trade also rose 13.5 per cent in the first five months of this year to reach US$197.68 billion. In May alone, China's foreign trade totaled US$39. 63 billion, a 6.9 per cent increase over the same period of last year. The past five months witnessed a 11 per cent increase in China's exports, which totaled US$102.5 billion, a slowdown from last month's 13.2 per cent. Insiders attributed this slowdown to the overall decline in market demand. Meanwhile, China's imports from January to May reached US$95.18 billion, 16.3 per cent up year on year. Foreign trade of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs), the backbone of national economy, increased at a lower rate of 5.4 per cent to US$85.12 billion in the first five months of this year, according to official statistics. Their trade showed 1.1 per cent decline in export and 13.5 per cent increase of import, according to the statistics released on Wednesday by the Beijing-based General Administration of Customs. During the period, export and import of collective-ownership and private enterprises kept increasing rapidly, up by 63. 9 per cent to US$12.12 billion, the Customs' report said, giving no explanation . Two-way trade of overseas-invested enterprises in China totaled US$100.45 billion. In addition, overseas-invested enterprises imported US$5.9 billion worth of facilities as investment in China while total volume of import and export hit US$100.4 billion, up 16.9 per cent, showing 2.9 per cent decline as compared with that of last month. China's exports to the United States and Japan, two of its leading trade partners, totaled US$20.32 billion and US$17.95 respectively. Meanwhile, imports from these two major trade partners added up to US$10.1 billion and US$17.27 billion. Machinery and electric products remained China's major export commodities, totaling US$5.24 billion and accounting for 44.1 per cent of the country's total. Major import commodities included refined oil, which totaled 8. 9 million tons, industrial manufactured products, which added up to US$76.61 billion, electric products, US$21.7 billion and steel, 7.03 million tons. |
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