BEIJING - China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) went down 0.7 percent year on year in the first half of this year, data showed Thursday.

China added a total of 8.12 billion dollars of non-financial ODI into countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, up 19.4 percent year on year

The ODI in 159 countries and regions amounted to 362.14 billion yuan (about US$51.5 billion) in the period, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

READ MORE: China's non-financial ODI down 7.7% in Jan

China added a total of 8.12 billion dollars of non-financial ODI into countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, up 19.4 percent year on year. Investment in member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also saw stellar growth of 53.1 percent to 6.23 billion dollars.

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Chinese companies saw their overseas investment in the leasing and business services sector grow by 20.1 percent year on year to 19.56 billion dollars, while investment into the manufacturing sector dropped 15.6 percent to 8.17 billion dollars, according to the ministry.

Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Shanghai were the top three local sources of ODI. Provincial-level regions along the Yangtze River Economic Belt saw their ODI rise 37.8 percent year on year to 17.8 billion dollars.

Major overseas projects increased. The number of newly signed overseas projects with a contract value exceeding 50 million dollars came in at 381 in the first six months, 222 of which had a contract value above 100 million dollars, up by 5 from the same period last year.

FDI falls 1.3%

Meanwhile, Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland, in actual use, fell by 1.3 percent year on year to 472.18 billion yuan in the first half of the year (H1), said Gao Feng, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), at a press conference on Thursday.

Foreign investment in the high-tech service industry hiked by 19.2 percent year on year during the Jan.-June period

In US dollar terms, the FDI inflow stood at 67.9 billion dollars during the first six months of the year, down by 4 percent year on year.

In June alone, FDI climbed by 7.1 percent year on year to 117 billion yuan, MOC data showed.

The reading amounted to a total of US$16.72 billion, an increase of 3.7 percent from the same period last year.

Foreign investment in the high-tech service industry hiked by 19.2 percent year on year during the Jan.-June period, with that of information services, as well as R&D and design rising by 20.9 percent and 35.7 percent respectively.

During the period, investment from Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United States logged a year-on-year expansion of 4.2 percent, 7.8 percent, and 6 percent respectively, while FDI from countries along the Belt and Road maintained a steady growth of 2.9 percent.

Gao said that the performance of FDI inflow in H1 was better than expected, a sign of foreign investors' stabilizing expectations and confidence in the country's economy.

However, it was still an arduous task to keep foreign investment stable since global economic situations will continue to be complicated and grave in the second half of the year, and there will still be some uncertainties facing foreign investment, Gao noted.

China pledged in early July to keep foreign trade and foreign investment stable. It urged efforts to maintain the stability and integrity of industrial and supply chains, and give full play to the role of foreign-invested enterprises in the industrial chain, while promoting a higher-level opening-up. 

Data from the ministry also showed foreign direct investment into the Chinese mainland, in actual use, fell 1.3 percent year on year to about 472.18 billion yuan in H1.