BEIJING — China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) went down 2.1 percent year-on-year in the first seven months of 2020, official data showed on Aug 20.

The ODI amounted to 423.65 billion yuan (or $60.28 billion) in the period, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Investment into countries along the Belt and Road surged 28.9 percent year-on-year, accounting for 17 percent of the total ODI during the period, up 4.5 percentage points from the same period last year.

The outbound investment mainly flowed to sectors including leasing and business services, manufacturing as well as wholesale and retail industries, the data showed.

Major overseas engineering projects increased. The contract value of newly signed overseas projects came in at $121.75 billion during the January-July period, up 4.3 percent year-on-year.