FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2002
China's FDI surges in August
AFP
BEIJING; A flood of overseas cash pouring into China's economy picked up still further during August, with foreign investment growing 25.5 per cent in the first eight months of the year, official figures said on Friday.
The figure is well up on the 22 per cent year-on-year rise seen during the first seven months, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation said.
A total of $34.44 billion of investment entered China in the eight months to August, the ministry said, with $4.9 billion in August alone.
Contracted foreign investment - commitments to spend in the future - grew even more sharply, up 42.4 in the eight months, a notable leap from the 34.9 per cent seen during the first seven months.
Foreign investment has been growing rapidly this year as overseas firms take advantage of gradual opening up of Chinese markets following the country's entry to the World Trade Organisation in December.
WTO membership has obliged China to begin dismantling many of the regulations which excluded foreign competition.
China's Minister for Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Shi Guangsheng forecast last month that China's total direct foreign investment could reach $50 billion this year, up from 46.8 billion in 2001.
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