ODI to retain fast growth in H2: ministry

China's nonfinancial outbound direct investment will maintain its fast growth in the second half of this year.

Shen Danyang, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, made the prediction at a news briefing on Wednesday.

China's favorable policies and the improvement of investment environment in host countries are major drivers of the country's fast ODI growth in recent years, Shen said. Meanwhile, Chinese enterprises began to receive remarkable gains from outbound investments, which further strengthened their confidence in overseas investments, he added.

China's nonfinancial ODI surged 29 percent year-on-year to $45.6 billion in the first half of this year, the ministry said. In the same period, spending in the United States jumped 290 percent year-on-year, and that in Australia rose 93 percent year-on-year and that in the European Union increased 50 percent year-on-year. But investment in Japan declined 9.1 percent year-on-year in the first half.

A total of 79 Chinese enterprises were in Fortune magazine's recent Top 500 list.