Foreign direct investment in China in January drops by 11.7%: Commerce Ministry

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China dropped 11.7% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis to $15.86 billion in January, the country's Ministry of Commerce said on Friday, February 23. The ministry added that last month, 4,588 new foreign-invested firms were set up across the country, recording a 74.4% jump on a YoY basis.

China's FDI totaled $33 billion on a net basis in 2023, which dropped around 80% from 2022, the lowest since 1993, according to data released late on Sunday by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. FDI declined for the second straight year and is less than 10% of the peak of the $344 billion mark in 2021.

Foreign companies have been scaling down their Chinese operations after the Chinese government focused more on protecting national security, including a crackdown on spying.