BEIJING (AP) — Foreign investment in China rose 38.3 percent in February from a year ago to $6.9 billion, the Commerce Ministry reported Wednesday.
Foreign companies are looking to China to help drive sales as growth in the United States and elsewhere slows, and are stepping up spending on factories and service industries meant to serve increasingly prosperous Chinese consumers.
February's growth was far below the rate in January, when foreign investment more than doubled to $11.2 billion. But the government said earlier that the January rise was unusual and probably was prompted by companies rushing to avoid exchange-rate losses as China's currency, the yuan, rose in value.
The figures exclude investment in China's financial industries.
The number of new foreign-financed projects rose by 38 percent in February to 1,454 compared with the year-earlier month, the Commerce Ministry said on its Web site.
Foreign companies long looked to China as a base to produce low-cost exports. But they have expanded operations in recent years to serve the domestic market as incomes rose.
China's retail sales rose by 20.2 percent in January and February compared with the same two-month period last year, the government said Wednesday in a separate report.
The economy, meanwhile, is expected to grow by at least 9 percent this year after expanding by 11.4 percent in 2007.
China's total foreign direct investment in 2007 rose 13.8 percent to $82.7 billion despite curbs meant to cool a boom in spending on real estate and other assets.
Beijing worries that runaway spending in industries such as auto manufacturing with excess factories and other assets could ignite a debt crisis if unneeded projects fail.
But Chinese leaders are still trying to attract investment to high-technology projects in industries such as telecommunications and computer chip manufacturing.
