Investing In China’s Future
Foreign investment in any nation supports economic growth, promotes technological upgrading and industrial structural change, accelerates infrastructure development and creates jobs. Since 1993, the direct foreign investment attracted by China has ranked as both the world's second and first among developing countries. China became the second largest country in terms of absorbing foreign investment, only after the United States. According to statistics from China's State Statistical Bureau, investors from over 170 countries and regions have invested in China. The average scale of foreign investment has increased to US$ 2.63 million in 1998 from no more than US$ 1 million in early 1990s. Now more than two hundred of the world's top 500 transnational companies have invested in China.
In 1998, new policies were enacted in China to increase foreign investments in the country. They included the optimization of foreign-funded industrial structure, the expansion of foreign investments into the petrochemical and construction sectors, improved allocation of foreign investments and attracting investors from North America and the European Union. The Chinese gross domestic product rose from 7% in 1976 to 13% in 1992, similarly, foreign direct investment (FDI) in China has risen steadily since 1979 to $33 billion in 1994. In 1982, FDI totaled $386 million, rising to $2 billion in 1992. The opening up of the Chinese economy has significantly contributed to the growth of the world economy and the increasing integration of international business. Today, China is the second largest and fastest-growing foreign direct investment (FDI) recipient in the world.
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