China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) dropped 7.7 percent year-on-year to 57.57 billion yuan ($8.32 billion) in January, the Ministry of Commerce announced on Monday.

In the meantime, Chinese firms invested in 1,117 businesses in 137 countries and regions, and sent 19,000 personnel abroad to support their projects and operations, the ministry said in an online statement.

Chinese companies invested $1.59 billion in 47 economies related to the Belt and Road Initiative in the first month of 2020, growing by 19.5 percent from same period a year earlier.

The structure of outbound investment continued to diversify, with investment mainly going into such sectors as leasing and business services, and wholesale and retail, as well as manufacturing and mining businesses, according to the ministry.

Chinese companies signed 52 project deals with a contract value of more than $50 million last month, accounting for 89.8 percent of the total contract value signed by Chinese firms during this period.