China's non-financial ODI down 3.2% from January-October

BEIJING -- China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) declined 3.2 percent year-on-year in the first 10 months of 2020, official data showed on Thursday.

ODI amounted to 602 billion yuan ($86.38 billion) over the period, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

China added a total of $14.1 billion in non-financial ODI in countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, up 23.1 percent year-on-year. The figure accounts for 16.3 percent of all ODI during the period, up 3.6 percentage points from the same period last year.

Major overseas engineering projects increased in the first 10 months. The total contract value of newly signed overseas projects came in at 1.16 trillion yuan for the January-October period, down 4.4 percent year-on-year.

The number of newly signed overseas projects with contract values exceeding $50 million was at 590, among which 331 have contract values above $100 million, four more than the same period last year.

Outbound investment from local enterprises has risen. From January to October, ODI from local enterprises hit $62.75 billion, up 11.7 percent year-on-year.

Some sectors have seen robust growth in terms of the contract value of their overseas projects. The total value of newly signed contracts for general construction projects stood at $40.48 billion, surging 36.8 percent year-on-year, while the value of new contracts for electric power projects rose 10.8 percent to $39.24 billion.