China 2016 outward investment tops $161bn

BEIJING: China’s non-financial outbound direct investment is likely to hit 1.12 trillion yuan ($161.19 billion) in 2016 and foreign direct investment into China will total 785 billion yuan, Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said.

The government will “promote the healthy and orderly development of outbound investment and cooperation” in 2017, the minister said in remarks at a conference that were published on the ministry’s website.

China’s outward direct investment (ODI) in November jumped 76.5 per cent from a year earlier and it rose 55.3 per cent in the first 11 months of 2016, the ministry’s data showed, as local firms continued to invest abroad amid a slowing economy and weakening yuan.

Gao said that in 2017, difficulties faced in maintaining a stable flow of foreign investment into China will increase, while sources of volatility for China’s outbound investment will rise along with risks, according to an interview with state media published on Monday.

Beijing has announced a string of measures recently to tighten controls on money moving out of the country, including closer scrutiny of outbound investments, as the yuan skids and the country’s foreign exchange reserves fall to the lowest levels in nearly six years.

China will further enhance the competitiveness of its foreign trade and consolidate recent good momentum, Gao added. For all of 2015, the ministry reported nonfinancial ODI of 735.1 billion yuan, and foreign direct investment (FDI) of 781.4 billion yuan.