Foreign investment in China up by 2.35 percent

, Dec 19: Foreign direct

in

rose 2.35 percent in November, as compared to the same month of 2012 to $8.48 billion, the commerce ministry said on Wednesday.

It marked the 10th consecutive month in which FDI inflows into China increased, as compared to last year.

FDI for the January-November period climbed to $105.5 billion, up 5.48 percent from the same period of 2012.

A total of 20,434 companies were established in China during those 11 months, down 9.19 percent from 2012.

FDI from the European Union surged 17.36 percent to $6.82 billion in the year's first 11 months, while investment from the US rose 8.6 percent to $3.16 billion and FDI from Japan climbed 2.29 percent to $6.76 billion, the ministry said.

Foreign direct investment in the services industry, which receives 51.4 percent of all FDI inflows into China - rose 14.04 percent to $54.25 billion between January and November, while the flow of FDI to the manufacturing sector declined by 5.71 percent to $41.46 billion.

Separately, Chinese direct investment abroad in the first 11 months of the year climbed to $80.24 billion, up 28.3 percent from January-November 2012.

IANS