BEIJING, March 19 (UPI) -- China's foreign direct investments rebounded in February with a 6.32 percent jump, ending eight consecutive months of decline, the government said Tuesday.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said February FDI inflows rose 6.32 percent year-on-year to $8.21 billion, noting it was the first such turn around after falling for eight consecutive months since last June.
The numbers were even more impressive when compared with January when FDI fell 7.3 percent year-on-year to $9.27 billion.
China had blamed the decline in the previous months on the global economy and rising labor costs at home.
"The rebound is a heartening fact," ministry spokesman Shen Danyang told a news conference as reported by the official Chinese news agency Xinhua.
EU investments in China surged 34.01 percent to $1.21 billion in February, while those from the United States dropped 5.37 percent to $497 million.
Shen said the overall February rebound showed the competitiveness of China's economy and foreign investors' confidence in the country's business environment and growth prospects.
However, he said it would be hard to judge the FDI situation for the entire year based on the latest data.
"Our general estimate is that FDI remain steady for the whole year, which means significant rises and drops are not likely," Shen said.
FDI into China for all of 2012 was down 3.7 percent year-on-year to $111.72 billion.
