China's Jan-Nov outbound direct investment up 16%

BEIJING - The Chinese mainland made around $104 billion in non-financial investment in overseas markets in the first 11 months of 2015, up 16 percent year on year, an official of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Tuesday.

Outbound direct investment (ODI) in the period covered almost all sectors, with $11.8 billion going to the manufacturing sector, up 95.4 percent year on year, according to the head of the department of outward investment and economic cooperation of the MOC, who expects China will far exceed the target of 10 percent growth in ODI for the whole year.

Chinese companies are building 75 economic and trade cooperation zones in 34 countries, which have generated $18 billion of ODI and attracted 1,141 Chinese firms, said the official.

The official also attributed the ODI growth to the Belt and Road Initiative, the acceleration of international industrial-capacity cooperation, more competitive companies and a more favorable business environment.

The first 11 months have witnessed robust growth in industrial-capacity cooperation, with China's export of large-scale complete sets of equipment increasing 10 percent year on year.