A worker sprays down the sidewalk outside of an outlet of Italian fashion retailer Moncler at a shopping mall in Beijing, on April 18, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

BEIJING - China saw a rapid increase of newly established foreign-invested enterprises in the first half of the year, an official with the Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday.

Some 24,000 new foreign firms established themselves in China in the first half of the year, marking a 35.7 percent rise year-on-year, Guo Tingting, vice commerce minister, told a press conference.

ALSO READ: China's fiscal revenue grows

Foreign investment was basically stable in the country during the period, Guo said.

Foreign direct investment in the Chinese mainland, in actual use, dipped 2.7 percent year-on-year to 703.65 billion yuan (about $98.46 billion) in the first half.