China to open up finance, education, culture sectors for FDI

Beijing: Facing economic slowdown, China will open up service sectors such as education, finance and culture for FDI to remain an attractive destination for overseas investment.

In a bid to attract more foreign investment to put the economic growth on firmer footing, the government will introduce six measures this year, China's Commerce Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang said.

"These will include further loosening the requirement for foreign investment in service sectors such as education, finance and culture, and optimising the administrative system to enhance work efficiency," Shen was quoted as saying by the state-run China Daily.

More foreign companies will be encouraged to invest in central and western regions which are comparatively poor and support will be given for the development of border and cross-border economic cooperation zones, he said.

In the first two months of this year, non-financial foreign direct investment to the world's second largest economy grew by 2.7 percent year-on-year to 142 billion yuan (USD 22.52 billion).

Investment in the service sector surged by 62.8 percent of total inflow during the period, reaching 89 billion yuan.

China continued to attract large FDI inflows despite the slowdown of the economy which decelerated to 6.9 percent last year. The country received USD 126.27 billion in FDI, 6.4 percent more compared to 2014.

Investment in the country's burgeoning service industry continued robust growth, accounting for 61.1 percent of total flows during the period.

Foreign direct investment in the high-tech service industry increased by 157 percent year-on-year to 16 billion yuan in the first two months of this year.