December 15, Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China in November fell for the first time since August 2009, down 9.76% year-on-year to $8.76 billion, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.
China approved the establishment of 2,718 foreign-invested companies last month, down 12.91% from a year earlier, said ministry spokesman Shen Danyang.
In the first 11 months China’s inbound FDI totaled $103.77 billion, up 13.15% from a year earlier. A total of 25,086 foreign-invested companies were approved over the same period, up 3.23% y-o-y, said Shen
FDI in services continued to grow at a quicker pace than in manufacturing. In the January-November period, FDI in the country’s service sector rose 18.45% y-o-y to $48.77 billion, while FDI in manufacturing industries increased 7.56% to $47.32 billion.
Investment from 10 major Asian countries and regions including Japan and South Korea added 17.98% y-o-y to $89.59 billion. FDI from the crisis hit European Union rose slightly by 0.29% to $5.98 billion, while FDI from the U.S. fell 23.05% to $2.74 billion in the first 11 months.
China’s eastern regions utilized $7.07 billion of foreign capital from January to November, an increase of 27.63% y-o-y. The growth rate was 14.48 percentage points higher than the nation’s average level.
Flash PMI
The preliminary HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to 49 in December, its highest in 2 months, HSBC said on Thursday.
Last month, HSBC’s final PMI reading was 47.7.
Meanwhile, the manufacturing output sub-index was 49.5 in December, up from 46.1 a month earlier, HSBC said.
Qu Hongbin, HSBC chief economist for China, said the flash PMI showed that the decline in growth generally stabilized in December, but that the growth momentum was
relatively weak.
Slowing exports and a cooling property market would further drag down economic growth, Qu said.
China’s decision makers should take accommodative fiscal and monetary measures to maintain growth and secure employment as inflation has eased, Qu added.
Source:21cbh.com