In the first 10 months of 2021, foreign direct investment (FDI) in actual use in China reached CNY943.15 billion, an increase of 17.8% year-on-year. The annual growth rate reached 23.4% in U.S. dollar terms. FDI used in the services sector rose 20.3% year-on-year to CNY752.52 billion, and FDI used in high-tech industries increased by 23.7%, up by 27.9% in high-tech services and 10% in high-tech manufacturing. Actual investment from countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) increased by 30.7% and that from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) rose by 29.5%.
China's economy delivered better-than-expected numbers in October as retail sales and industrial production went up, beating consensus forecasts. Industrial output increased by 3.5% year-on-year, compared with 3.1% in September, while industrial value-added from January to October increased 10.9% on a yearly basis, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed. Retail sales reached CNY4.05 trillion in October, up 4.9% year-on-year. The rate was 0.5 percentage points higher than the previous month. It was the second consecutive month that the year-on-year growth of China's retail sales accelerated, after the rate slowed for six months in a row to this year's lowest point of 2.5% in August. From January to October, total retail sales reached CNY35.85 trillion, an increase of 14.9% compared with 2020. Investment in fixed assets from January to October rose 6.1% on a yearly basis, which was below market expectations. The growth rate also slowed from the 7.3% recorded for the first nine months as a cooling property market weighed on the economy. Lu Ting, Chief China Economist for Nomura Holdings, said that China's CPI will rise by 2.5% in November, from 1.5% in October. Observers said the rise in the PPI will inch down slowly in November, after expanding by 13.5% in October, the highest since 1995.
A number of Chinese provinces in recent days have announced major infrastructure projects. Guangxi unveiled major construction projects with a total investment of CNY185.9 billion, including transportation, new energy, logistics and basic infrastructure. Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, launched 100 power grid projects with a total investment of CNY65 billion, while Hubei presented 805 projects worth CNY452 billion. China's fixed-asset investment (FAI) stalled in the third quarter. In the first three quarters, China's FAI grew 7.3%, slowing 1.6 percentage points compared with the first eight months.
