On December 14, the official from MOFCOM Department of Outward Investment and Economic Cooperation made an introduction to China’s outward investment and cooperation in January-November 2018.
In January-November 2018, Chinese domestic investors made non-financial direct investment in 5213 overseas enterprises from 157 countries and regions, with an accumulative amount of US$ 104.48 billion, the same as that of the same period of last year. The total value of the newly-signed contracts of contractual projects abroad was US$185.31 billion, and the turnover of accomplished contractual projects abroad amounted to US$138.01 billion, the same as that of the same period last year. The number of all kinds of laborers dispatched overseas for cooperation projects reached 444,000. At the end of November, the number of all kinds of laborers overseas was 1,011,000, increasing by 39,000 over the same period last year.
In January-November 2018, the outward investment and cooperation maintained a stable and sound development, mainly presenting the following features:
First, investment cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road routes made positive progress. In January-November, Chinese enterprises made additional investment in 56 countries along the Belt and Road routes, with a total amount of US$12.96 billion, up 4.8% year on year. The newly signed contract value of the foreign engineering projects in countries along the Belt and Road routes was US$90.43 billion, accounting for 48.8% of the total value over the same period; the turnover accomplished was US$ 73.66 billion, taking up 53.4% of the total over the same period.
Second, the industrial structure of outward investment continued to be optimized and the irrational outward investment was effectively constrained. In January-November, China’s outward investment mainly flew into lease and commercial service, manufacturing, wholesale and retail industry and mining, taking up 38.2%, 15.7%, 8.5% and 8.2% respectively. There was no newly-added outward investment project in real estate, sports and entertainment sector.
Third, cross-border mergers and acquisitions developed steadily, and the pattern of outward investment was continuously innovated. In January-November, Chinese enterprises had a total of 330 M&A projects overseas covering 52 countries and regions like Germany, Singapore and France, involving 18 industries including manufacturing industry. The actual transaction value was US$62.24 billion, with the direct investment reaching US$23.64 billion, and overseas financing amounting to US$38.6 billion.
Fourth, the construction of overseas economic and trade cooperation zones had remarkable achievements and realized mutual benefit and double win. By the end of November, 2018, 113 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones had taken shape in 46 countries with a total investment of US$42.14 billion, attracting 4,742 enterprises to enter into the zone, paying the taxes of US$3.24 billion to the host countries and creating 302,000 employments for the host countries.
Fifth, there are many newly signed big contractual foreign projects, driving China’s export and the economic and social development of the host countries. In January-November, there are 47 more newly signed contracts of overseas contractual projects over US$50 million, accounting for 84.1% of the total value of the newly signed contracts. Overseas contractual projects created 823,000 employments for the host countries, mainly in the sectors of transportation and electric power engineering construction, and accounting for 49.2%, which effectively improved the livelihood and infrastructure condition of the host countries. The exported goods pulled up by contractual projects amounted to US$15.33 billion, up 13% year on year.
In January-November, 2018, a total of 7924 outbound investment enterprises were filed or approved by the related department in charge, the contractual value of Chinese investment reached US$117.25 billion. Among these, the number of the filed or approved non-financial outbound investment enterprises was 7882, the contractual value of Chinese investment was US$ 109.67 billion; the number of filed or approved financial outbound investment enterprises reached 42, with the contractual value of Chinese investment reaching US$7.58 billion.
