The Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday overseas direct investment (ODI) of China's centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOE) in 2008 was 35.74 billion U.S. dollars.

In 2008, 117 or 86 percent of the 136 SOEs, made ODI in 127 countries, the ministry said.

The investment accounted for 64 percent of China's total ODI for the year. Among the SOEs, 19 posted losses because of the investment.

At the end of 2008, overseas enterprises established by the SOEs employed 597,300 people, 40 percent of whom were local people.

The number of China's centrally-administered SOEs has decreased to 135 from 136, as China National Biotec Group (CNBG) has been merged into the China National Pharmaceutical Group Corp. (Sinopharm), according to China's state property regulator, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) Wednesday.

(Xinhua News Agency September 17, 2009)