The amount grew nearly 16 per cent to US$5.99 billion and 3,047 foreign-invested enterprises were approved.

The country attracted US$48.58 billion in FDI from January to October, up 0.34 per cent from a year earlier, ministry spokesman Chong Quan told a news briefing.

During the same period, 33,068 foreign-invested ventures were approved, down 6.32 per cent year on year.

The ministry did not reveal figures for contracted FDI.

Hong Kong ranked first among sources of FDI, followed by the British Virgin Islands and Japan.

Although the increase was slight compared with last year, the average value of each investment deal rose, said Gao Hong, a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

He attributed it to the government paying more attention to the quality of overseas investment rather than quantity.

The figures released by the commerce ministry did not include investment flows to the financial sector, which has become a major destination of FDI since last year.

"A lot of foreign money is coming into China's banking sector as the deadline at the year-end for the full opening of the banking sector draws near," Citigroup economist Huang Yiping said.

1

2

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)