The amount of foreign capital actually used in China reached 127.69 billion yuan in January, up 14.5 percent year-on-year. In dollar terms that comes close to $19.02 billion, up 10 percent year-on-year.
This explains why China is still seen as an ideal destination for foreign investment and business. China will make greater efforts at the policy level to stabilize and expand foreign investment this year, making the Chinese market a "magnet" for foreign capital.
Despite facing ever-changing international situations and ever-increasing uncertainties, China has not changed its established development strategy, development approach and development goals. It will continue giving full play to its strengths to attract foreign investment.
Although the pandemic has not completely disappeared and many restrictive factors remain, the more than 100 billion yuan in foreign investment that China attracted in January shows that it still remains a favored foreign investment destination.
Not only are foreign investors flocking to invest in China, many international economic organizations are full of confidence in China's economic prospects. The International Monetary Fund even raised its forecast for China's 2023 economic growth to 5.2 percent, up 0.8 percentage points from its October forecast. It is the greater confidence of the international community in China's economy and increased optimism of foreign investors toward the Chinese market that has played a more positive role in helping China attract foreign investment.
The proportion of foreign investment in the high-tech sector is increasing, with the actual use of foreign capital in high-tech industries increasing by 62.8 percent in January, 22 percent points higher than 40.4 percent in the manufacturing sector. In particular, the actual use of foreign capital in high-tech manufacturing increased by 74.5 percent year-on-year, 34 percentage points higher than that in manufacturing. All these show that the quality of foreign investment China attracts is constantly improving, which is expected to help promote the high-quality development of China's economy.
The regional distribution of foreign investment is also undergoing positive changes. The actual use of foreign capital in China's less developed central and western regions increased 25.9 percent and 21.6 percent year-on-year respectively in January, much higher than 13.4 percent in the eastern region. This means that the pattern of foreign investment favoring China's eastern region is now changing and will contribute to China's pursuit of more balanced economic development across regions.
