Chinese companies sped up their overseas investment activities during the first seven months of this year amid the global economic slowdown, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Thursday.
China's outbound direct investment (ODI) in non-financial sectors soared 52.8 percent year on year to 42.22 billion U.S. dollars in the January-July period, accelerating from the 48.2-percent increase in the first half of this year, the MOC spokesman Shen Danyang said at a press conference.
The country's 42.22-billion-U.S. dollar ODI went to 2,407 overseas enterprises in 117 countries and regions in the period, Shen said.
The Chinese mainland's investments in Hong Kong, countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the United States posted growth of 67.7 percent, 36 percent and 29.6 percent, respectively, according to MOC data.
China invested 1.03 billion U.S. dollars in the European Union in the first seven months, up just 1.2 percent from a year ago, while Chinese investment in Russia inched up only 0.2 percent to 204 million U.S. dollars.
The country's ODI in Australia and Japan, however, plunged 43 percent and 25.7 percent, respectively.
As of the end of July, China had an accumulated investment of 364.3 billion U.S. dollars overseas in non-financial sectors.
According to the MOC, the accomplished turnover of China's overseas-contracted projects amounted to 58.83 billion U.S. dollars in the January-July period, up 14.5 percent year on year.
