China's foreign direct investment inflows fell 3.8% in the first nine months from a year ago, extending the longest run of declines since the depths of the global financial crisis as stiff economic headwinds dent corporate spending plans.
The Commerce Ministry said on Friday that China drew $83.4 billion U.S. in foreign direct investment between January and September, with September's inflow alone down 6.8% on year-ago levels at $8.4 billion U.S.
The shrinking FDI figure followed a raft of economic activity indicators released on Thursday that pointed to a mild recovery in the growth momentum in September, although the economy slowed for a seventh straight quarter in the July-September period.
Earlier data showed China's foreign exchange reserves, the world's largest, rose to $3.29 trillion U.S. at the end of September from $3.24 trillion U.S. at the end of June. The $50-billion U.S. rise came after a $65-billion U.S. drop in Q2.
Despite evidence of corporate caution in the face of uncertain global demand, China's trade showed signs of improvement last month, with exports rising at twice the rate expected by economists and imports returning to the path of expansion, suggesting Beijing's measures to underpin growth are starting to show results.
China rolled out an array of measures last month to help stabilize export growth, speeding payments of export tax rebates, easing access to bank loans and cutting fees.
China has an official target of 10% growth in both exports and imports for 2012. But some trade officials have cast doubt about the ability to achieve it given the uncertainties hanging over external demand.
Commerce Ministry data showed investment inflows from the European Union dropped 6.3% year-on-year in the first nine months to $4.8 billion U.S., while investment by U.S. firms dropped 0.6% to $2.4 billion U.S.
FDI inflows from the top 10 Asian economies, including Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore, fell 4.9% between January and September versus the same period a year ago to $71.0 billion U.S., the ministry said.
FDI is an important gauge of the health of the external economy, to which China's vast factory sector is oriented, but its contribution to total capital flows is dwarfed by exports, which were worth about $1.9 trillion U.S. in 2011.
China drew a record $116 billion U.S. in foreign direct investment last year. The Commerce Ministry aims to attract an average of $120 billion in each of the next four years. It is roughly on course to hit the target in 2012.
China's outbound direct investment from non-financial firms in the first nine months totaled $52.5 billion U.S., up 28.9% year on year, the Ministry said.
