BEIJING — China’s non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) dropped 35.7 percent year on year to 53.27 billion yuan ($7.73 billion) in January this year, official data showed on Feb 16.

Chinese companies invested in 983 overseas enterprises in 108 countries and regions in January, according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).

Chinese companies have especially paid attention to the real economy and emerging industries for outbound investment, said Sun Jiwen, MOC spokesperson, during a press conference.

Up to 37.5 percent of the ODI went to manufacturing in January, up from 13.4 percent in January 2016, according to the MOC.

In January, 11.5 percent of China’s total ODI was invested in information transmission, software and information technology services, up from 5.6 percent in the same period last year.

The Belt and Road Initiative was a strong boost to cooperation between Chinese and foreign firms. Outbound investment to countries involved in the initiative accounted for 10.6 percent of the total ODI in January, up 2.1 percentage points from that in 2016.