FDI into China rises 1.3% in October
November 18, 2014, 6:08 am

A woman works at a textile factory in Tai’an City, east China’s Shandong Province, Oct. 18, 2014 [Xinhua]

For the first 10 months, FDI into China from Japan fell 42.9 per cent. On Monday, weak economic data posted by the government showed Japan fell into recession in the third quarter.

FDI from the United States into China also fell 23.8 per cent from a year earlier. Meanwhile, FDI from South Korea and Britain increased 26.4 per cent and 32.4 per cent, respectively.

The growth rate was lower than the 1.9 per cent growth in September, after a 14 per cent slump seen in August.

For the first ten months, FDI into China, which excludes investment in the financial sector, totaled $95.88 billion, down 1.2 per cent from the same period last year, with the decline pace narrowing from the 1.4 per cent registered in the first nine months, the ministry said.

The service sector attracted $53.12 billion, 6.6 per cent higher compared with the same ten months in 2013.

Growth of FDI into the manufacturing sector in the January-October period declined 15.1 per cent year on year to $32.52 billion, the Commerce Ministry said.

For the first nine months, China’s GDP rose 7.4 per cent year on year to reach 42 trillion yuan ($6.84 trillion).

Gerry Rice, spokesperson of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said in September this year the IMF has “recommended the (Chinese) authorities could accept a range of 6. 5 to 7 per cent for growth target in 2015.”

Earlier this year, China has rejected a World Bank report that suggests it might pass the United States this year to become the biggest economy measured by its currency’s purchasing power.

“Even when the Chinese economy is finally coronated as No.1, all that GDP will be spread pretty thin around more than a billion people. On a per-capita basis, China is still No.99 in the world. In any case, China will be the world’s largest economy sooner or later, but do ordinary Chinese people really care? At the end of the day, it is the yuan in their pocket that really matters,” said an editorial in China’s state-run Xinhua in September.

“This does not change China’s status as a middle-income, developing country. More importantly, China remains dogged by a host of problems: overcapacity, financial risk, lukewarm manufacturing, lack of global brands and innovative capabilities,” it added.

TBP and Agencies