Inward investment hit by outbreak

Actual foreign
direct investment into China in June totalled US$7bn, only 2.5 per cent higher than in the
same month last year. The total for the first half of 2003 was US$30.3bn. a year-on-year
increase of 34 per cent. The figures apparently show the impact of the Sars outbreak in
deterring visi-tors from coming to China in the second quarter as contracted foreign direct
invest-ment rose by 35 per cent to U5512.7bn in June, compared with a 40 per cent hike to
US$.'50.9bn in the first half of this year.