BEIJING — China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) dipped 0.4 percent year-on-year in 2020, official data showed on Jan 21.

The ODI stood at $110.15 billion (about 759.77 billion yuan) last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The contract value of newly signed overseas engineering projects came in at about $255.54 billion last year, down 1.8 percent year-on-year.

Total non-financial ODI made by Chinese firms in 58 countries along the Belt and Road reached $17.79 billion, up 18.3 percent year-on-year. The figure accounted for 16.2 percent of the country's total during the period, up 2.6 percentage points from a year earlier.

Outbound investment mainly flowed to sectors including leasing and business services, as well as wholesale and retail industries, the ministry said.

The ODI flowing to leasing and business services rose 17.5 percent year-on-year to $41.79 billion, while that flowing to the wholesale and retail sectors amounted to $16.07 billion, increasing 27.8 percent year-on-year.

In 2020, the non-financial ODI made by local companies reached $80.75 billion, up 16.4 percent year-on-year, the data showed.