The booming Zhejiang Province in east China witnessed a decline
in foreign direct investment, or FDI, for the first time since
1998.
According to the provincial statistics bureau, Zhejiang approved
establishment of 662 foreign-funded enterprises in the first
quarter of this year, involving US$4.7 billion in contracted
foreign capital, down 32.2 percent and 31.2 percent respectively
from the same period last year.
The three-month period also saw US$1.3 billion of foreign
capital was actually used in the province, down 4.0 percent, the
bureau said.
Analysts from the bureau ascribed the FDI decline to lack of
land and shortage of power supply in the province.
(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2006)