China's foreign investment up 45 percent

Tag : factories china
BEIJING -
Foreign investment in China during the first half of the year rose45 percent to $52.4 billion, the government said Friday.
That was well above the 18 percent increase reported for all of2007.

Foreign investment financed the creation of 14,544 businesses inChina in the first six months of the year, the Commerce Ministrysaid in a one-sentence statement. It gave no reason for the sharpincrease in investment.

Foreign companies are looking to China's fast-growing consumermarket to help drive sales as demand elsewhere slumps. A lot ofmoney is being put into factories, as well as consumer orientedsectors.

The size of individual investments has grown as companies buildmore factories for high-tech goods.

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