FDI falls by 5.7% in December

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) fell by 5.7% to US$5.98 billion in December, the third straight month of declines, Bloomberg reported. FDI fell 36.5% in November. Declines in FDI may reflect multinational companies becoming cautious about their expansion plans, and some companies that benefited from China’s real estate and stock boom are now leaving. The number of new companies in China set up by US investors in the first 11 months of 2008 fell by 32%, government data stated. For new companies set up by European investors, the drop was 23%.