China launches plan to revive foreign investment as FDI continues to fall
The measures include greater market access in services, finance and healthcare, though analyst says it remains unclear how the reforms will be implemented
China is doubling down on efforts to attract and retain foreign investment with a new, comprehensive action plan aimed at stabilising the scale of inbound capital amid a sustained decline in inflows and mounting global uncertainty.
Issued on Monday by the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Finance and the top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, the plan outlined 15 measures to expand market access across services, finance, healthcare and other sectors while improving the quality and structure of foreign investment.
The central government would open the door wider to foreign firms seeking opportunities in these sectors, the ministries stated, including allowing overseas participation in vocational training institutions and top-tier universities specialising in science, engineering, agriculture and medicine.
Investors from Hong Kong and Macau would be granted earlier and broader access to mainland China’s services market, they said.
Under the new plan, Beijing said it would further open its financial sector by allowing more foreign institutions to use risk management tools, including treasury bond futures, and by supporting foreign firms in providing fund investment advisory services. “Key foreign firms” would also be encouraged to go public and raise funds on mainland stock markets and would be offered quotas to ease cross-border financing, according to the plan.