China's non-financial outbound direct investment surged 53.7 per cent to USD 134.22 billion in the first nine months of this year as Chinese firms continued to invest big abroad, the Commerce Ministry said today.
China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) surged 53.7 per cent from a year ago to 882.78 billion yuan (USD 134.22 billion) in the January-September period, Shen Danyang, spokesman for the ministry, told media briefing here.
In September alone, China's ODI rose 56.9 per cent year on year to USD 16.16 billion.
He attributed the rise in Chinese investments to the Belt and Road (Silk Road) Initiative, saying that it had boosted business cooperation between Chinese and foreign firms.
During the first nine months, 4,191 engineering contracts were signed by Chinese companies in 61 countries along the Belt and Road routes, with combined contract value of USD 74.56 billion, he said.
Chinese firms had invested USD 17.9 billion in 56 economic and trade cooperation zones in 20 countries along the Belt and Road during the same period, creating 163,000 jobs for local people, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Chinese companies completed 521 overseas mergers and acquisition projects during the first nine months, with the transaction value reaching USD 67.44 billion, surpassing the total amount of last year.
The mergers and acquisitions involved 18 industries in 67 countries and regions, the report said.
Some of the big investments under the Silk Road plan were made in Pakistan under the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, officials said.
Contracts worth about USD 13 billion in infrastructure projects were signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent visit to Bangladesh.
China's ODI has also exceeded the Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country.
During the first eight months of 2016 the FDI arrivals increased to 4.5 per cent year on year to USD85.9 billion, according to the Ministry of Commerce of China.
Meanwhile, China's central bank today pumped 80 billion
yuan (USD 11.9 billion) into the money market via seven-day and 14-day reverse repos, after draining 174.5 billion yuan yesterday.
The reverse repos is a process by which central banks purchase securities from banks with an agreement to sell them back in the future.
Data from Wind, a financial information provider, showed that a total of 90 billion yuan (USD 13.3 billion)was purchased by the central bank today.
Meanwhile, there is 132 billion yuan (USD 19.5 billion) of medium-term lending facility (MLF) and 80 billion yuan (USD 11.8 billion) of treasury cash deposit at maturity.
The MLF tool was first introduced in 2014 to help commercial and policy banks maintain liquidity by allowing them to borrow from the central bank by using securities as collateral.
Today's interbank market, Shibor stood at 2.17 per cent, 1.4 basis points higher than yesterday, Xinhua reported.
The People's Bank of China adopted various open market operations to regulate liquidity in the market this year, including standing and medium-term lending facility and pledged supplementary lending.
