BEIJING (AP) -- Foreign investment in China dropped sharply in November, battered by a slump in global demand that has led to a wave of factory closures, according to data reported Wednesday.
Foreign investment in November was $5.3 billion, down 36.5 percent from the same month last year, the Commerce Ministry reported. It gave no breakdown of investment by industry or regions of the country.
The global economic slowdown has forced many companies to cancel or postpone investment plans.
China's southeast, the heart of the country's export-driven manufacturing industries, has been especially hard-hit. Factories, many of them foreign-financed, have closed and thousands of workers have been laid off as foreign orders dry up.
