FDI remains on down trend

In October, foreign direct investment going into China showed its 11th monthly drop in the past year.

The decline came amid global economic troubles and a deceleration in China's own economic growth, both of which have made investors more hesitant to spend money.

Shen Danyang, Commerce Ministry spokesman, described the decline at a news conference on Tuesday as being temporary, saying it is related in part to changes in the types of FDI allowed into the country.

In October, FDI into China went down by 0.24 percent year-on-year, hitting $8.31 billion. That was the 11th drop in the past year. The only exception to that trend came in May, when FDI increased by 0.05 percent, the ministry said.

In the first 10 months of the year, FDI in China declined by 3.45 percent year-on-year to $91.74 billion.

"The successive deceleration seen in FDI into China stems mainly from the world's economic troubles, which struck global trade and investment at a time when China's economic growth was under pressure, despite the signs that the world's second-largest economy is moving out of its growth slowdown," said Huo Jianguo, president of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, a ministry think tank.

Shen said he remains optimistic about FDI in China.

"It will keep up its momentum, particularly as the current deceleration stems from the country's restructuring of its FDI inflows," he said.

Huo agreed, saying that "FDI in China will see a slight gain in 2013 as the government stokes domestic demand and enlivens domestic investment conditions.

"But the world's economic troubles will prevent FDI from increasing quickly."

The first 10 months of this year saw the European Union's investments into China decrease by 5 percent from a year earlier, hitting $5.24 billion.

During the same period, US investments in China reversed their declining trend, going up 5.3 percent year-on-year. With October excluded from the calculation, US investments showed a 0.63 percent decline year-on-year.

Japanese investments in China increased by 10.9 percent year-on-year from January to October, hitting $6.08 billion. With October excluded, the increase was 17 percent year-on-year.