China improved its foreign direct investments (FDIs) during the first 10 months of 2019, with a 6.6 percent increase compared to the previous year. The FDIs reached 752.41 billion yuan, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC) revealed on Monday.
According to Xinhua, in October alone, FDI inflow reached 69.2 billion yuan, a notable 7.4 percent compared to the same month in 2018. New startups that were funded by foreign firms reached a total of 33,407 in the January to October period.
Among the notable improvements in China's overall FDI inflow is within the Yangtze economic belt. Foreign investments increased by 8 percent, accounting for 49 percent of the country's overall FDIs.
Initially, some analysts predicted that foreign direct investments to the country would diminish as the China-U.S. trade war has not come to a calm. The slowing global economy also affected forecasts on FDIs to the Chinese market.
However, it appears that interest in China's massive market continues to grow as the number of investments keeps increasing through the years. Director of the department for foreign investment under the MOC, Zong Changqing, confirmed that the country did not experience a widespread retreat in investments.
Zong was asked whether companies with business in China continue to move production to other Asian regions due to the tariffs from the United States. He said FDIs are expected to retain stability throughout the year.
In October, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) found out that trade tensions have not significantly affected interest in China's markets during the first half of 2019.
The report noted that FDI inflow increased by 24 percent in HQ 2019, compared to the same period last year. For the first half, an estimated $640 billion was invested by global firms and funding into China.
The UNCTAD report further predicted at that time that it is expecting to see investments into China and Southeast Asia to hold up throughout 2019. However, the report warned that trade tensions could still have an impact on the final numbers for this year.
Earlier this month the ASEAN Investment Report revealed that the ASEAN region reached a record-high in FDIs in 2018, with $155 billion in investments to the country and accounting for 11.5 percent of the global FDI inflow chart.
Singapore took up $77.6 billion, making it to the top of the list, while Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines completed the top five. On the other hand, the ASEAN report noted that investments from the U.S. and China dropped significantly in 2018.
It remains to be seen whether FDIs will keep up the uptrend for the rest of the year.
