BEIJING - Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland expanded 7.3 percent year-on-year to 533.14 billion yuan in the January-July period, the Ministry of Commerce announced Tuesday.

In US dollar terms, FDI inflow grew 3.6 percent year on year to $78.8 billion during the period, the ministry said.

FDI in July alone reached 54.82 billion yuan, up 8.7 percent year-on-year.

During the past seven months, a total of 24,050 new foreign-funded enterprises were founded.

Investment in high-tech industries climbed 43.1 percent year-on-year to account for 29.3 percent of the total FDI, among which the high-tech service sector received 97.39 billion yuan, up 63.2 percent.

China's pilot free trade zones saw FDI inflow up 14.6 percent year-on-year during the seven-month period, accounting for 14.2 percent of the total FDI.

Western China registered the fastest growth of FDI compared with other regions, with the figure up 25.2 percent year-on-year to reach 39.94 billion yuan.

Foreign investment from Germany and the Republic of Korea climbed quickly in the first seven months, posting growth of 72.4 percent and 69.7 percent year-on-year, respectively.

MOC data showed that FDI from the European Union rose 18.3 percent compared with the same period last year.

FDI from countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative grew 5 percent in the first seven months of 2019.