China to attract $63 billion in FDI

BEIJING (Reuters) China expects to attract about $63.81 billion in actual foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2007, the local Beijing News reported.

The paper cited a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), a top government think-tank, as forecasting the figure would represent annual growth of about 4 per cent compared with 2006, which would mean FDI of about $61.36 billion last year.

The official China Securities Journal quoted the Ministry of Commerce as saying that China was expected to attract $60.3 billion in FDI in 2006, unchanged from 2005. State television has said the country would draw more than $72.4 billion in FDI in 2006, without giving any source.

The commerce ministry said China's FDI in the first 11 months of 2006 stood at $54.26 billion, up 2.14 per cent from a year earlier. That figure does not include foreign direct investments in the financial sector.

China's latest move is only the latest in a series of debt cancellations, interest-free loans and co-operation agreements to have been signed with Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang.