FDI in China down 32.6 percent in Jan: govt

BEIJING (AFP) — Foreign direct investment in China fell 32.6 percent in January from a year earlier, the government said on Monday.

Investments last month by foreign enterprises, not including those by financial institutions, reached 7.54 billion dollars, the commerce ministry said at a briefing.

The number of newly established firms declined 48.7 percent to 1,496, it said.

The ministry did not immediately give a reason for the decline, but it may have been a factor that the Lunar New Year, the biggest festival of the Chinese calendar, began at the end of January this year.

Last year, foreign direct investment into China rose 23.6 percent from a year earlier to 92.4 billion dollars, earlier state media reports said, citing the commerce ministry.

The growth rate for the year was markedly higher than the 13.6 percent recorded for 2007.