Mainland foreign investment is increasing, although the number of newly committed foreign-funded projects and amount of foreign contractual investment is falling, a trade official says.
Deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation's foreign investment administration, Hu Jingyan, said foreign investment reached US$27.8 billion in the first eight months of this year, up 6 per cent from last year.
A total of 13,094 foreign investment projects were signed in the period, down 24 per cent, while contractual investment fell 43 per cent to $29.9 billion.
Foreign investment reached $41.7 billion last year, up from $37 billion in 1995 and $31 billion in 1994.
He said the increase in foreign investment reflected foreign investors' growing confidence and many contracts were realised.
He said that foreign investors preferred a large stake in mainland projects, while they usually took a minority interest in the past.