China Jan-March FDI rises 6.4 pct from year ago

BEIJING, Apr 14: China drew .25 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first three months of 2006, up 6.4 percent from the same period last year, the Commerce Ministry said on Friday.

For March alone, actual FDI rose 4.4 percent from a year earlier to .66 billion, the ministry said on its foreign investment Web site (www.fdi.gov.cn). An earlier Reuters calculation based on January-March figures had suggested 4.8 percent annual growth for the month.

The ministry has stopped issuing data on contracted foreign direct investment -- deals signed but not yet executed.

In all of 2005 China drew .3 billion in FDI, down slightly from from a record .6 billion in 2004.

The ministry said that actual FDI from the United States had dropped 21.6 percent in the first three months of the year from a year earlier.

Inflows of FDI from the original European Union countries in the first quarter were 56.7 percent greater than in the same period last year, it said.

China's foreign direct investment ($ billion): Mar Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar 5.66 4.04 4.55 7.2 4.7 5.2 5.3 4.9 4.5 6.2 4.9 4.1 5.4

REUTERS