□ Our reporter Meng Ni
With the gradual improvement of the global epidemic, the trend of China's outbound investment is also becoming more stable。
According to data released recently by the Ministry of Commerce, from January to July 2020, China's foreign non-financial direct investment was 4,236.500 million yuan (equivalent to 602.$800 million), down 2.1%。The amount of newly signed contracts for foreign contracted projects is 8556.700 million yuan (equivalent to 1217.500 million US dollars), an increase of 4.3%;Turnover 4912.600 million yuan ($69.9 billion), down 10 percent year on year.5%。
对此，Xiao Huilin, deputy dean of the School of International Development Cooperation at the University of International Business and Economics and deputy Secretary-General of the China Association of International Trade of the Ministry of Commerce, said，Despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic and China-Us relations，However, under the timely introduction of a series of policy measures at the national level to stabilize foreign trade, promote investment and linkage between government and enterprises, etc，China's outbound investment has maintained a relatively low decline，The overall trend is stable and healthy，As expected。
Investment in the Belt and Road Initiative continues to grow
The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce said when releasing the data that from January to July, China's foreign investment cooperation mainly showed three characteristics: steady progress of investment cooperation in countries along the "Belt and Road", rapid growth of foreign investment in some areas, and good trend of foreign contracted projects in some industries。
Data show that from January to July, non-financial direct investment by Chinese enterprises in countries along the "Belt and Road" 102.$700 million, an increase of 28.9%, accounting for 17% of the total investment in the same period, an increase over last year.Five percentage points。A total of 671 new project contracts were signed in countries along the Belt and Road.800 million dollars, complete turnover 404.300 million US dollars, accounting for 55 percent of the newly signed contracts and completed turnover of foreign contracted projects in the same period.2%和57.8%。
Talk about the reason，Xiao Huilin thinks，首先，The novel coronavirus is a global pandemic，Compared with the epidemic in developed countries in Europe and the United States，Countries and regions along the Belt and Road have been relatively limited in their exposure to the epidemic，Countries and regions along the Belt and Road have not formed a completely closed trade environment，It can also provide convenience for enterprise operation and development to a certain extent。Secondly, countries and regions that actively participate in the construction of the "Belt and Road" have become a strong driver of the active market。In order to ensure the smooth progress of the "Belt and Road" construction, the participating countries and regions have created a favorable environment for the cross-border flow of people, materials and equipment, and guaranteed the development of cross-border projects in the region。Third, the national top-level design provides policy support for the "Belt and Road" investment。The Protocol signed with the ASEAN Free Trade Area has come into full force, making the customs clearance between China and ASEAN countries more convenient and efficient。Infrastructure construction such as the China-Europe Express has laid a solid foundation for Chinese enterprises to invest in countries along the "Belt and Road"。Finally, in the post-pandemic era, the economies of all countries are generally in a period of recovery and slow development。The internationalization, complementarity, win-win and sustainable characteristics of investment in the "Belt and Road" can attract a large amount of capital investment and become a strong driving force for global economic recovery。Therefore, different from other regions, the "Belt and Road" market continues to maintain a strong growth trend。
Outbound investment encountered a series of new challenges
However, at present, the domestic and international situation of China's foreign investment is still complicated and severe, and it is not optimistic。Xiao Huilin said that due to the impact of the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, the "consumption", "investment" and "export" of the troika driving the economy have declined sharply, and the global economic recession has shrunk foreign investment of various countries, and foreign investment has also encountered a series of new challenges。
First, China-Us relations have deteriorated and diplomatic frictions have continued。Anti-china forces led by the United States and protectionism in Europe and the United States have jointly put pressure on China in the issues of investment review, technology and intellectual property rights, and restricted the entry of Chinese capital. These factors have greatly restricted China's foreign investment, and at the same time, China's foreign investment has been rejected by some countries。In addition, in recent years, China's regulatory authorities have tightened the approval of overseas irrational investment, and foreign investment cooperation may slow down。
Second, the regional layout of China's foreign investment has changed obviously。China's outbound investment in Asia and Africa has bucked the trend, and Asia has become China's largest overseas merger and acquisition market。At the same time, investment in all other regions fell。In terms of investment expectations, the competition in Europe and the United States is fierce, but the marketization degree is relatively mature, and the investment risk is low。Although the "Belt and Road" region has a strong growth trend, the marketization is not mature, and the investment risk is relatively high, and the follow-up investment may be difficult to sustain for the infrastructure investment with a long cycle and unclear investment return。
Third, the epidemic is still spreading abroad and will affect the world economy for some time to come。Therefore, China's foreign investment will also be delayed by the epidemic abroad。In this case, the appropriate contraction and slowing down of foreign investment is a good time for the domestic market to "heal" and "replenish blood" and adjust itself。The epidemic situation has promoted the shift of China's economic center of gravity to the domestic market, which will delay the pace of outbound investment。
Based on the above factors, Xiao Huilin judged that China's foreign investment cooperation will continue to maintain steady growth。China will continue to maintain a positive attitude of opening up to the outside world, make full use of both international and domestic resources and markets, create a mutually beneficial and win-win economic environment internationally, and help multinational enterprises rapidly improve their internationalization level and increase the scale of overseas assets, so as to promote China's outbound investment to achieve steady growth。
(Article from International Business Daily)