BEIJING — Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 15.8 percent year-on-year to 63.47 billion yuan (about $9.14 billion) in July, the Ministry of Commerce said on Aug 13. 

This marked the fourth consecutive month for the country to witness positive growth in FDI. 

The performance of FDI inflow in the Jan-July period was better than expected, reversing a losing streak in the first half, Zong Changqing, an official with the ministry, told a news briefing

During the period, FDI rose 0.5 percent year-on-year to 535.65 billion yuan, gaining 1.8 percentage points than that of the Jan-June period.

A breakdown of data showed FDI inflow in the service industry hiked 11.6 percent from January to July to 414.59 billion yuan from the same period last year, accounting for 77.4 percent of the total.

Investment from Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Kingdom logged a year-on-year growth of 8.2 percent, 4.6 percent and 48.6 percent, respectively, during the same period.

During the first seven months, a total of 18,838 new foreign-funded enterprises were established in China.

It showed that most multinational companies were still upbeat about their business outlook in China, and their plans to continue long-term development in China remained unchanged, Zong said.