CRI听力:China Jan-July FDI Falls for First Time in 17 Months

China's foreign direct investment, or FDI inflows in the first seven months, fell compared to the year-ago period, the first time in 17 months that has happened.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, China attracted 71 billion US dollars in FDI between January and July, down 0.4 percent from a year ago and its first decline since February last year.

FDI into the Chinese mainland fell sharply to less than eight billion dollars in July, the least in two years.

But Shen Danyang is the spokesman at the ministry.

"As China deepens its economic restructuring, it is normal that data fluctuate concerning the use of foreign capital. It cannot reflect the general trend and it is groundless to associate it with the anti-monopoly investigation on foreign capital. We believe that most foreign companies that invest in China will continue to operate legitimately.We believe that they will not back away due to the anti-monopoly cases."

His comments come as complaints have been lodged by foreign chambers of commerce about China's anti-monopoly investigations into foreign-funded companies, including top brands such as Microsoft, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Shen perdicted that foreign investment will keep a steady growth pace in the coming years and total FDI this year will remain at a similar level with last year.

At the same time, China has become the world's third-largest investor by exporting capital worth nearly 53 billion U.S. dollars during the first seven months.

The outbound direct investment by Chinese non-financial companies, soared 85 percent from the previous year to over 9 billion dollars in July.