FDI Falls 10.8% in China amid COVID-19

Earlier this week, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced that due to the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, China’s foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflow in the first quarter fell 10.8 per cent from the previous year to 216.19 billion yuan (USD 30.62 billion).

In terms of US dollars, the foreign direct investment equity inflow amounted to 31.2 billion U.S. dollars during the period; this figure was down 12.8 percent percent year-on-year.

In the month of March alone, FDI inflow reached 81.78 billion yuan, dropped 14.1 percent year-on-year, according to MOFCOM. The decrease is 11.5 percent narrower than that in February.

However, the high-tech service industries sector saw a surge of 15.5 per cent in foreign investments accounting for 29.9 percent of the total FDI in service sector. Among them, information services, e-commerce services, and professional technical services increased by 28.5, 62.4, and 95 percent respectively year-on-year.