China's foreign direct investment (FDI) experienced a boost this year in a five-month period from January to May. A total of $53.83 billion (334 billion yuan) utilized FDIs flowed into the country, a 10.5 percent growth year-on-year, with the services industry contributing most to the growth, data from the Commerce ministry showed. 

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The government approved 9,582 foreign-funded enterprises worth $125.77 billion (781 billion yuan), with 6,830 businesses coming from the service industry, which saw a 20.9 percent jump year-on-year.  The segment makes up 63 percent of the country's national total FDI. The high-end manufacturing industry posted disappointing numbers, with communication equipment manufacturing growing the most at only 4.8 percent year-on-year.  

The 28 countries of the European Union propelled China's FDI as well, registering $3.31 billion (21 billion yuan) FDI input. 

China's Commerce Ministry also attributed the FDI growth to the increase of approved Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A). A realized FDI of $9.79 billion was recorded in the first five months of 2015, a 333.8 percent climb. 

Excluding financial sectors, FDI last month increased by 7.8 percent to $9.2 billion (57.4 billion yuan), Deutsche Welle reported. 

In 2014, China recorded $119.6 billion (742 billion yuan) of FDI.  

Financial Times recently released a report on global FDI, naming China as the top destination country by capital investment. The country announced $75 billion worth of FDI projects in the past year. 

FT analyst Henry Loewendahl predicted that with China's cooling economy, it is likely that India will "overtake China as the fastest growing major economy in the world in the future." 

Meanwhile, the country's outbound direct investment (ODI) recorded 278.4 billion yuan (approximately $44.8 billion) of non-financial investment, the Commerce ministry said on Thursday. The ODI jumped 47.4 percent year-on-year, with the first four months of the year showing a 36.1 percent rise, Reuters reported. 

ODI is expected to outpace FDI, largely due to the government encouraging enterprises to invest abroad and the economy's slowdown, prompting firms to look for more opportunities abroad. 

Last year, ODI registered a record high of $102.9 billion.

TagsChinese economy slowing down, China's foreign direct investment, China's outward direct investment