China’s FDI September 2023

According to the latest data released on October 20, 2023, by the Ministry of Commerce, actual Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland reached USD 128 billion during the first nine months of 2023, down 8.4 per cent year-on-year, after declining 5.1 per cent a month ago.

Direct investment liabilities, a broad measure of FDI that includes earnings retained by foreign companies in China, have posted a deficit of USD 11.8 billion in the July-September quarter, data showed.

This is the first quarterly deficit since data collection began in 1998, which could be related to the impact of Western countries' "de-risking" from China as well as the interest rate disadvantage.

Since the beginning of 2023, China saw its newly established foreign-invested enterprises reaching 37,814 an increase of 32.4 per cent on annual basis.

Foreign companies make up less than 3 per cent of the total number of companies in China, but contribute to 40 per cent of its trade, more than 16 per cent of tax revenue and almost 10 per cent of urban employment.

FDI data follows the negative trend of other key economic indicators that are showing the country's current challenging economic situation.