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Foreign investment up after 8-month slump
Aggregated Source: Shanghai Daily: Business

Foreign direct investment in China rose for the first time in nine months in February, as the world's second-largest economy showed signs of further stabilization, the Ministry of Commerce said this morning.

Foreign investors channeled a total of US$8.21 billion into China last month - up 6.32 percent from a year earlier.

The increase compared with January's fall of 7.3 percent, the eighth monthly consecutive decline.

Commerce Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang attributed last month's rebound to economic recoveries at both home and abroad.

But he said it was yet hard to conclude February was a turning point for China's inbound foreign investment.

"We have experienced quite a lot of fluctuations - or to put it more accurately, falls."

"But we remain the world's best performer in attracting foreign investment against the background of global investors' tight budget," Shen said.

"It is expected that China's inbound foreign investment will stabilize this year, with investors' acknowledgement of our economic competitiveness and growth outlook," added the spokesman.

In the first two months of 2013, China's inbound foreign direct investment still dropped 1.35 percent, the ministry data showed.

Foreign capital flowing into China's service sector expanded 5.49 percent to US$8.45 billion during the January-February period - 48.32 percent in the total basket.

The manufacturing sector absorbed US$7.47 billion, down 10.6 percent on an annual basis.

Investment from the 27-member European Union jumped 34 percent in the first two months to US$1.2 billion, while the United States investors reduced their investment in China by 5.3 percent to US$497 million.

China's outbound direct investment surged 147.3 percent in January and February to US$18.4 billion, an indication of strong enthusiasm of globalizing their business among Chinese investors.

Former Commerce Minister Chen Deming, who has just stepped down, last week urged foreign countries to be more open to Chinese investors.

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