China's foreign direct investment (FDI) marked a surprise increase in June, soaring 20.12 percent from a year earlier to 14.39 billion U.S. dollars, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced Wednesday.
The surprising FDI data for June did not include influxes of overseas funds in the banking, securities and insurance sectors but still marked a significant surge from the 0.29-percent year-on-year increase seen in May, according to the MOC.
The figure marked the fifth consecutive monthly increase since February, when China reported an FDI recovery after seeing monthly declines since June 2012.
In the first half of 2013, China's FDI totaled 61.98 billion U.S. dollars, up 4.9 percent year on year.
"The FDI increase proved the competitiveness of the Chinese economy and international investors' recognition of the investment environment in China," MOC spokesman Shen Danyang said at a press conference.
While the service sector took 49 percent of the total FDI inflows, the manufacturing sector attracted 26.44 billion U.S. dollars of foreign investment, down 2.14 percent, and held a 42-percent share of FDI inflows, Shen said.
Direct investment from the European Union and the United States jumped 14.68 percent and 12.29 percent, respectively, to 4.04 billion U.S. dollars and 1.83 billion U.S. dollars in the first half.
Source Xinhua
