Foreign direct investment (FDI) continued to decline in August

The uncertainty of internal and external economic situation makes foreign direct investment (FDI) fluctuate constantly. The Commerce ministry yesterday reported a 6.379 billion dollar drop in real foreign direct investment in May, down 17.8% from a year earlier, but less than 22.51% per cent in April.　　However, FDI for 8 consecutive months year-on-year negative growth for the first time in 10 years. The Ministry of Commerce said that the decline in the May decline in FDI, marking China's FDI has fallen 8 months.　　The spread of the global financial crisis has reduced foreign investment across the world market, and China, known as one of the best investment destinations, has not been spared. From the absolute value of a single month, the actual absorption of foreign direct investment in May 6.379 billion U.S. dollars is higher than the April 5.89 billion U.S. dollars. In the 8th consecutive month, FDI fell for the first time in 10 years, the Ministry of Commerce spokesman Yao Jian said yesterday. "This is the first time since the Asian financial crisis in 1998, China's new foreign-funded enterprises, contracted foreign investment and actual use of foreign capital has continued to decline overall, and the decline in the indicators has continued to expand the trend." Xinyu, a researcher at the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, said yesterday that FDI volatility was normal in the context of the financial crisis, reflecting investors ' difficulty in judging investment behavior.　　Hefei foreign Economic and Trade Cooperation Bureau Director Wu Jing earlier in an interview with the newspaper that some new projects postponed the pace of decision-making, slow progress. The data show that China's annual FDI in 2008 was 92.395 billion U.S. dollars, the average monthly level of 7.7 billion U.S. dollars.　　Mei Xin-Yu believes that in the current internal and external economic situation, the pure pursuit of high level of FDI is also unrealistic.　　The "Monopoly" of the three major economic circles 90% in May this year, the real use of foreign capital in the Midwest was higher than the national average, the central region fell 35.7% and the western region fell 30.2%. Yao explained that the first two years of the Midwest region to absorb foreign investment growth is very fast, reached a relatively high base, in addition, in the context of the financial crisis, foreign-funded enterprises may be more inclined to the East Coast and other projects have been increased capital, rather than into new areas and projects.　　This shows that the decline in FDI mainly from the central and western regions, while the coastal economic circle is still showing a certain growth.　　According to the NDRC website released yesterday, the first quarter, the Yangtze River delta, Pearl River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei three major economic circles, its actual use of foreign direct investment of 19.7 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for the country's 90.6%, an increase of 9.7%. Among them, the Yangtze River delta accounted for 52.5% of the national foreign direct investment, an increase of 14.9% per cent, the growth rate of 10.8%, up 6.4% year-on-year, is the most obvious growth in the three economic circles.　　Second, the Pearl River Delta, Beijing and Tianjin and Hebei have increased, but the growth rate has slowed. Global FDI or 30%-40% according to the latest United Nations UNCTAD data, the global FDI flow in 2008 was 1.66 trillion U.S. dollars, down 15% from 2007, and 2009 global FDI will drop 30% to 40%. YaoChina remains at 20%, the firm said yesterday. Earlier this month, the Commerce Ministry said it was difficult for FDI to achieve recovery growth in the short term.　　Yao said yesterday that it would focus on supporting structural adjustment, expanding employment, regional development and energy conservation and other aspects of foreign investment, decentralization and support to the Midwest. Experts say there is no need to be overly pessimistic about the current decline in FDI for 8 consecutive months. The crisis could bring more opportunities to China, Mei said. He said, according to the Foreign Investment Chamber of Commerce survey, many business owners before the crisis, such as Vietnam and other neighboring countries are better investment, because the cost is low, but after the crisis, many companies due to Vietnam and other facilities, the law is not perfect, have withdrawn to China. In this crisis, he judged, China's share of attracting foreign investment in global flows has not diminished but is expected to rise.