BEIJING — China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) went down 5.2 percent year-on-year in the first four months of the year, official data showed on May 27.

The ODI amounted to 222.87 billion yuan (about $34.3 billion) in the period, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

China's investment cooperation with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative made progress. During the period, investment into these countries expanded 14 percent year-on-year to 5.96 billion dollars, accounting for 17.4 percent of the total, or up 1.8 percentage points from the same period last year.

Outbound investment into manufacturing and information transmission continued to grow. The manufacturing sector, for instance, attracted 5.72 billion dollars in the first four months, up 23.5 percent year-on-year.

The ODI from China's local enterprises reached 27.39 billion dollars, up 7.5 percent year-on-year and accounting for 79.8 percent of the total ODI in the period, according to the ministry.