Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland fell sharply again in July, slumping 16.95% from a year earlier to $7.81 billion, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said on Monday.

The sharp decline was in contrast with a mere 0.2% increase seen in June, according to the ministry. For the first seven months, the FDI, which excludes investment in the financial sector, stood at $71.14 billion, down 0.35% from the same period last year, it said.
Meanwhile, the outbound direct investment (ODI) by Chinese non-financial companies soared 84.9% from previous year in July, compared with a year-on-year decline of 5% in the January-June period, Chinese News Agency (Xinhua) reported.
The July ODI figure marked the first monthly growth since February this year, according to Shen Danyang, spokesman of the MOC.
The sharp increase in ODI contributed to the 4% annual growth for the first seven months, during which Chinese investors made 52.55 billion U.S. dollars, or 322.74 billion yuan, of investment in 149 countries or regions, the ministry said.