BEIJING — China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) reached $459.71 billion yuan in the first eight months of the year, down 4.3 percent year-on-year, according to official data released on Sept 16.

In US dollar terms, the period's ODI rose 3.7 percent from a year ago to $71.02 billion, the Ministry of Commerce said.

In the January-August period, non-financial direct investment into countries along the Belt and Road increased 9.2 percent year-on-year to $12.89 billion, accounting for 18.1 percent of total non-financial ODI, data from the ministry shows.

Outbound investments in multiple fields continued to grow during the same period. Investment into wholesale and retail went up 13.5 percent from a year earlier to $11.42 billion, while investment into services related to information transmission, software, and information technology jumped 33.2 percent to reach $5.4 billion.

The non-financial ODI from the country's local enterprises rose 11.9 percent from a year earlier, accounting for 77.6 percent of the total non-financial ODI during the period, according to the ministry.