FDI falls for eighth straight month in China

BEIJING: Foreign direct investment in China dropped 17.8 percent year-on-year in May for the eighth straight monthly fall, the commerce ministry said on Monday.

China attracted a total of 6.38 billion dollars of foreign investment last month, the ministry's spokesman Yao Jian told reporters.

The decline compared with a fall of 22.5 percent in April from the same month in 2008, according to previously released statistics.

Foreign direct investment in the first five months was down 20.4 percent from the same period last year to 34.05 billion dollars, the spokesman said.