China registered actual FDI of US$43.6 billion in the January-August period, up 18.8 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Contracted direct investment, an indicator of future trends, climbed 38.9 percent to US$93.8 billion in the period.

The ministry said China approved 28,748 new foreign-invested ventures in the first eight months, a rise of 11.7 percent.

The ministry did not provide specific data for August alone. However, based on calculations using official information, actual FDI in August was US$5.2 billion, leaping 55.3 percent from August 2003 and setting a record for the year.

Actual FDI rose 14.2 percent in June and 15.5 percent in May this year. Calculations for July based on official figures show a jump of nearly 46 percent year-on-year in that month.

Analysts attribute the current high rate of growth to the low base in August 2003, which was affected by the aftermath of the SARS outbreak. From July last year the FDI growth rate dropped for five consecutive months, slipping nearly 28 percent year-on-year in August to US$3.3 billion.

Official forecasts for this year modestly call for actual FDI to roughly match or exceed the US$53.5 billion in 2003.

Meanwhile, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) reported that growth in fixed asset investment slowed in the first eight months owing to the implementation of macroeconomic and regulatory cooling measures.

Fixed asset investment in the January-August period rose 30.3 percent year-on-year, a marked slowdown from the first quarter, when it jumped 47.8 percent. Investment in August was up 26.3 percent year-on-year, rebounding slightly from the low of 18.3 percent growth in May.

The government has approved 70,600 projects or 17.3 trillion yuan (US$2.1 trillion) worth of fixed asset investment since April, when the government began a nationwide review of investment, according to SDRC sources.

Since the end of April, 427 projects were halted and another 841 canceled. Their combined value was 170.2 billion yuan (US$20.6 billion), about 0.9 percent of the total value of projects under review.

(China Daily, China.org.cn September 16, 2004)