China says January foreign direct investment up 23% Beijing (AFP) Feb 17, 2011 Foreign direct investment in China rose 23.4 percent in January from a year earlier, the government said on Thursday, despite an official campaign to stem liquidity and control inflation. China attracted $10.03 billion in foreign investment last month, commerce ministry spokesman Yao Jian told reporters. The figures indicated that a revival in investment continued after growth slowed sharply in August and despite several moves by the government to slow the economy, including last week's third interest rate hike in four months. The January figure compares to growth of 15.6 percent in December, when $14.03 billion in investment flowed into China. Foreign direct investment hit a full-year record of $105.7 billion in 2010, the government said last month, highlighting growing foreign confidence in the economy despite Beijing's dampening measures. Investment by overseas companies last year rose 17.4 percent year-on-year, with more than a fifth of the money flowing into the red-hot property sector, Yao had said last month. Analyst say strong growth in the world's second-largest economy and expectations for a stronger currency have attracted a growing number of foreign investors to China, hoping to get a better return on their money. But the government, alarmed by soaring food and property prices, has been trying to reduce the volume of money flowing into the economy as inflation continues to soar. Figures released Tuesday showed January inflation remained high at 4.9 percent, despite adjustments to the consumer price index that reduced the weighting of soaring food costs. China's foreign direct investment data include investment by overseas companies in industries such as manufacturing, real estate, services and agriculture but exclude money put into banks and other financial institutions.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Global Trade News
Panama Canal chief unfazed by Colombia rail rival Panama City (AFP) Feb 16, 2011 The administrator of the Panama Canal dismissed Wednesday the notion the key waterway could be under threat from a Chinese-backed project to build a new rail link across northern Colombia. "I don't see that as a competition issue," Alberto Aleman Zubieta, the head of the Panama Canal Authority, told AFP. "We are a very important freight shipment hub, and shipping by sea is the most efficient ... read more |
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |