(Photo : Hong Kong)

China has officially become one of the world's top three investors after the country's total overseas direct investment (ODI) last year reached $87.8 billion or 17.6 per cent more than the 2011 ODI, government agencies announced on Monday.

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The 2012 figure has brought China's total outstanding ODI to $531.9 billion, the 13^th highest in the world, said a statement jointly released by China's Ministry of Commerce, National Bureau of Statistics, and State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

The growth of China's ODI in 2012 was a direct contract to the 17 per cent drop of ODI globally, pushing China to become the world's top three investors last year, the joint statement released to the press said. Chinese investors established about 22,000 overseas enterprises in 179 countries and regions.

Hong Kong Is Top Investment Destination

According to Monday's statement, Hong Kong continues to be the top destination of overseas Chinese investment last year. The United States came at second with $4.05 billion from Chinese investors. 

The agencies also revealed that direct investments to Russia grew 117.8 per cent year-on-year in 2012 and that to the United States and Japan soared 66.4 per cent and 47.8 percent respectively

The state agencies said financial ODI reached $10.07 billion in 2012 while the countries ODI in non-financial sectors went up 13.3 per cent to $77.73 billion. Experts forecast that China's ODI is likely to grow 15 per cent this year.

Despite economic difficulties in China last year, Chinese investors remain active in investing overseas. The statement released by the three state agencies revealed that Chinese companies engaged in 457 mergers and acquisition deals in 2012, with the total value reaching a record high of $43.4 billion.

Aside from financial and non-financial investment overseas, China also sent 512,000 workers to work abroad under labor cooperation agreements signed by China and host countries.