China's ODI down 41.8% in Jan-Aug

BEIJING - China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) dropped 41.8 percent year on year to $68.72 billion in the first eight months, official data showed Thursday.

Chinese companies made the outbound investment in more than 4,789 overseas enterprises of 152 countries and regions from January to August, the Ministry of Commerce said on its website.

The plunge narrowed 2.5 percentage points from the January-July period, and the ODI structure continued to improve, according to ministry spokesman Gao Feng.

The investment mainly went to the leasing and commercial services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and information technology sectors.

As the government moved to curb irrational investment, there were no new investment projects in real estate, sports and the entertainment sectors, Gao said.

Since late 2016, the ministry has cooperated with other departments to reinforce inspections into the authenticity and regulation compliance of outbound investment to optimize investment structure.

Outbound investment to countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative stood at 8.55 billion dollars, accounting for 12.4 percent of the total ODI, up 4.3 percentage points from the same period of 2016.