BEIJING — Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland expanded 4.8 percent year-on-year to reach 84.18 billion yuan (about $12.41 billion) in January, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced on Feb 14.

FDI for the services sector more than doubled that for the manufacturing sector, reaching 56.2 billion yuan, MOC data showed.

The high-tech sector reported a robust FDI inflow by growing 40.9 percent, with the high-tech service subsector using 15.77 billion yuan, a year-on-year expansion of 113.4 percent.

FDI in Central China reached 7.04 billion yuan, rising 11.6 percent year-on-year.

MOC data showed that FDI from the United States surged 124.6 percent compared with January 2018, while that from countries along the Belt and Road increased 10.1 percent.

A total of 4,646 new foreign-invested firms were set up in the first month of 2019, down 10.6 percent year-on-year.