China's actual foreign direct investment (FDI) in October jumped by 15.92% year-on-year to $5.99 billion, the Ministry of Commerce said Nov. 15. The jump compares with a slight rise of 2.72% in actual FDI in September from the same month a year ago.
The sharp rise in October was likely caused by the imminent opening of the Chinese banking sector to foreign banks, according to Citigroup's economist Huang Yiping in Hong Kong. "At the moment, a lot of foreign money is coming into China's banking sector with the approach of the full opening of the banking sector at year's end," he said. "That's probably the reason for the increase as more foreign banks incorporate locally."
Foreign direct investment in the first 10 months was up 0.34% from the same period last year at $48.57 billion and compared to a 1.52% decline over the January-September period.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2006
