China got foreign investment of US$40.238 billion in the first nine months of this year, a rise of 11.85 percent from the previous year.

The latest statistics from the Ministry of Commerce show that during the period, the government approved 29,539 foreign-funded companies, up 18.59 percent from the same period last year. The contractual foreign investment totaled US$79.207 billion, registering a 35.97 percent growth.

By the end of September, China had 453,735 foreign-funded companies, with total contracted foreign funds of US$907.267 billion, and realized foreign investment totaling US$488.204 billion.

(Xinhua News Agency October 19,2003)