Economy

China's ODI growth to continue: US Congress report

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-03-31 11:19

WASHINGTON - The trend of China's growing investment in foreign countries is expected to continue, said a US Congressional research panel in a report released Wednesday.

"Chinas investments abroad are growing despite an overall decline globally in foreign direct investment (FDI) following the 2008 financial crisis," said the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) in its report -- Going out: An overview of China's outward foreign direct investment (ODI).

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"That trend in Chinese investments abroad is likely to continue, since China's huge foreign exchange reserves are an increasing source of mobile capital and is a key part of China's official government policy," writes the report.

The report noted that growth in China's ODI flows has become very significant in recent years, going from less than $100 million in flows in the 1980s to $56.53 billion in 2009, making China the fifth largest originator of ODI.

Despite the impressive growth trends, however, Chinese ODI remains relatively small: China, including Hong Kong and Macao, accounts for just 6 percent of global ODI stock currently, said the USCC, which was created by the Congress in 2000 to focus on US-china bilateral trade and economic relationship.