BEIJING - China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) in January and February surged 71.8 percent over the same period of 2015, according to new official data.

The country's ODI in the first two months of 2016 hit 195.97 billion yuan ($29.92 billion), said the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) in a statement on Tuesday.

The ODI in February alone outnumbered the total for the first two months of last year.

The MOC attributed the rise to a more diversified investment portfolio. In January and February 2016, nine of the 20 industries considered in the ministry's calculation contributing ODI of over $1 billion, compared to only four in the same period of 2015.

The Belt and Road Initiative also accelerated business cooperation between Chinese firms and their foreign counterparts.

China's Jan-Feb ODI to countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative stood at $2.23 billion, an increase of 41.1 percent year on year.

Asian countries and regions were the most popular ODI destinations for Chinese firms. Investment in them accounted for about 60 percent of the total in the first two months.

ODI to Hong Kong almost doubled year on year to 15.82 billion dollars in the said period, that to ASEAN countries jumped by 33.3 percent.