Actually used foreign direct investment (FDI) on the Chinese mainland rose 6.1% year-on-year to CNY268.44 billion in the first two months of this year. High-tech industries saw a notable FDI increase of 32% from the same period last year. Specifically, FDI in high-tech manufacturing soared nearly 69% year-on-year, while that in the high-tech services sector surged more than 23% on a yearly basis, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced in an online statement. As China continues to press ahead with industrial innovation and promote multilateral trade initiatives, investment from economies participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) rose 11% and 11.8% year-on-year, respectively. In U.S. dollar terms, the FDI inflow went up 1% year-on-year to USD39.71 billion.
To ease the pressure caused by factors ranging from waning global goods demand to geo-economic shocks, China has accelerated the pace of further releasing its market potential. Multinational corporations have been actively tapping market trends and speeding up their investments, especially in areas like high-end consumption, manufacturing, healthcare and green energy, said Wang Huiyao, President of the Beijing-based think tank Center for China and Globalization. “We are optimistic about the Chinese economy’s prospects for this year. We expect that the impact of Covid-19 will be behind us at some point during the first quarter of this year, allowing for a rebound in the second quarter,” said Jens Eskelund, Vice President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. Chinese Premier Li Qiang said during a press conference following the closure of the recent NPC session that China will further expand opening-up this year in alignment with high-standard international trade rules, and will open its doors wider to the world with a better business environment and services. To promote high-standard opening-up, the government rolled out a series of policy measures in mid-January to encourage global companies to establish innovation centers in the country. Key measures include encouraging foreign-funded research and development (R&D) centers to conduct fundamental research, allowing them to use reports and data collected by national research programs and strengthening support for infrastructure and operational funding.
Eric Chung, CEO of Nippon Paint China, a subsidiary of Singapore-based Nipsea Group, said the company will start the construction of its new headquarters and Asia-Pacific R&D center in Shanghai later this year, and plans to build a production base in the city in the coming years. “With China’s optimized Covid-19 response, we see that the consumer market has begun to revive, social and economic vitality has been further released, and China’s economy has been showing its strong resilience and great potential,” he said.
China is also developing new policy measures to stabilize foreign trade, according to MOFCOM. “The country’s foreign trade faces severe external challenges and uncertainties,” said, Shu Jueting, Spokeswoman for the Ministry, citing the recent Government Work Report that identified concerns such as high-level global inflation, weakening global economic growth and more containment and suppressive moves against China by some countries. However, she said, “we are confident that the country is capable of maintaining the growth momentum in foreign trade to inject more support to the overall economic recovery”. China’s foreign trade in goods was valued at CNY6.18 trillion in the first two months of the year, declining 0.8% year-on-year. Experts said that despite challenges, China’s exports are expected to keep growing this year. “To stabilize export growth, it is important for China to produce and export products the world really needs,” said Ning Jizhe, Vice Chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.
MOFCOM Spokeswoman Shu revealed that the next China Import and Export Fair, also known as the 133rd Canton Fair, will be held offline in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, from April 15 to May 5. Its online platform will also be operated to provide all-day services to participants. The combined size of the trade fair’s exhibition areas will be expanded to a new high of 1.5 million square meters, compared with 1.18 million square meters previously. There will be 54 professional exhibition areas, and more than 30,000 enterprises have signed up for offline participation.
China’s economy is stabilizing and picking up pace with a marked improvement in key economic data for the first two months of 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, as consumer spending, investment and industrial output rebounded. Retail sales surged 3.5% year-on-year in the January-February period, after a 1.8% decline in December. Fixed-asset investment (FAI) increased by 5.5% during the two-month period, compared with a 5.1% rise for the whole of 2022. China’s industrial output grew by 2.4% in the January-February period from a year earlier after a 1.3% rise in December. Lu Ting, Chief China Economist at Nomura, said the January-February activity data shows improvement across the board from the fourth quarter of 2022.
This overview is based on reports by the China Daily, Shanghai Daily, and Global Times.
