China's Foreign Direct Investment Fell Further in May

China's foreign direct investment fell further in May, extending a streak of declines for the 12th straight month, official data showed.

China attracted 412.51 billion yuan ($56.81 billion) worth of foreign direct investment in the January to May period, down 28.2% from the same period last year, the Ministry of Commerce said late Friday.

That widened from the 27.9% drop recorded for the first four months of the year. The metric has been falling since June 2023.

China's commerce ministry said the wider decline was mainly due to a high comparison base last year, adding that the actual scale of foreign investment is still at a historically high level.

"Currently the expectations and confidence of foreign investors are generally stable," the ministry said after releasing the data.

The commerce ministry also highlighted an increase in the number of newly established foreign-invested firms in China, which rose 17.4% to 21,764 firms in the first five months.

The decline in FDI comes amid escalating tensions between China and the west, as more punitive measures have soured trade and economic relations. The U.S. and the European Union have introduced higher tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, while Beijing has opened an antidumping probe into pork imports from the EU.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

06-23-24 2256ET