China received 7.5 billion U.S. dollars of foreign direct investment in August, up 7 percent from a year earlier, said Yao Jian, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Tuesday.

It is the first time in 2009 that FDI has risen year on year, Yao said. In contrast, China's FDI dropped 35.7 percent to 5.36 billion U.S. dollars in July from a year earlier.

Foreign direct investment in the first eight months shrank 17.52 percent from the same period last year to 55.87 billion U.S. dollars, the sopokesman said.

Yao credited the first monthly FDI increase to a sharp rise in FDI in the manufacturing sector.

FDI in China's manufacturing sector rose 11.72 percent to 4.29 billion U.S. dollars in August year on year. But that in service sector dipped 7.78 percent to 2.63 billion U.S. dollars in August year on year.

FDI in China's manufacturing sector has been increasing steadily since October 2008 without drastic fluctuations, and proves China will remain a key area for FDI in the manufacturing sector because of the country's rich labor resources and improving investment environment, Yao said.

He said monthly FDI could not reflect overall economic performances as monthly FDI usually differs from each other remarkably. For example, FDI was 8.3 billion U.S. dollars in July last year, but shrank to 7 billion U.S. dollars in August last year.

(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2009)