Whopping rise in China’s FDI

Chinese overseas investment in January and February soared 147 per cent year-on-year to $18.39 billion, official data showed yesterday — more than foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country itself. Incoming FDI, which excludes financial sectors, stood at $17.48 billion over the period, the Commerce Ministry said, down 1.35 per cent year-on-year. Beijing is keen to promote overseas investment in part of its efforts to reform China's growth model and acquire significant foreign assets in sectors such as energy, mining and high-tech industries, analysts said. "It should be a trend in the long run — it is highly likely that overseas direct investment will exceed foreign direct investment in the next few years," Ren Xianfang, a Beijing-based analyst with IHS Global Insight, said. "It is a national strategy to transfer China to a big investor from a big exporter."  Chinese direct investment overseas surged almost 30 per cent last year from 2011 as firms in the world's second-largest economy increasingly look to expand abroad. Australia biggest market The biggest rise in Chinese investment in a major market over January and February was in Australia, where it surged 282 per cent, the ministry said. It was followed by Hong Kong, up 156 per cent, and the US with a 146 per cent increase, while in south-east Asia it went up 114 per cent and in the EU 81.9 per cent. However,  in Japan, with whom Beijing has been involved in a territorial row, investment was down 31 per cent. Overseas FDI to Russia also slipped 46 per cent. At the same time China's manufacturing competitiveness faces rising costs, while investor confidence is battered by weakness in the global economy. Nonetheless incoming FDI in rose 6.3 per cent to $8.21 billion in February, the first year-on-year increase in nine months, the commerce ministry said. EU investment into China increased 'quite rapidly' in the first two months of the year, the ministry said in a statement, rising 34.01 per cent to $1.214 billion. But FDI fell from the US and Asia, with Japanese investment down 6.7 per cent over the period to $1.269 billion. China's economy grew at its slowest pace in 13 years in 2012, expanding 7.8 per cent from the year before. But it has been showing renewed vigour, with GDP growth rising in the final three months of 2012 to 7.9 per cent, snapping seven straight quarters of weakening expansion.