It was almost one year ago, when we first reported that in the third quarter of 2023, China’s foreign direct investment had turned negative for the first time on record. Fast forward to today, when capital flight from China has become relentless as foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth.
China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped $8.1 billion in the third quarter, according to data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange released late Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment in China, was down almost $13 billion for the first nine months of the year.
As we have been reporting, foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions, pessimism about the world’s second-largest economy and stronger competition from Chinese domestic firms in industries such as cars. Should the decline continue for the rest of the year, it would be the first annual net outflow in FDI since at least 1990,…
Read the full article here