Investments last month by foreign businesses, not including financial institutions, reached $5.83 billion. which is 15.8% decline from a year earlier, the government said on March 16.
The number of newly-established firms declined by 13% to 1,265, ministry spokesman Yao Jian said.
He said foreign direct investment in the first two months of the year totaled $13.37 billion, down 26.23% over the same period in 2008.
The figure has been under pressure in recent months amid the global financial crisis.
Foreign direct investment in China rose 23.6% for the full-year 2008 to $92.4 billion compared with the year before. Such investment is one of the factors driving the rapid growth of China's foreign exchange reserves, which topped $1.95 trillion at the end of December.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009
