BEIJING — China's outbound direct investment (ODI) saw stable growth last year, rising by 2.2 percent year-on-year to 936.69 billion yuan, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Jan 20.

In US dollar terms, the period's ODI rose 9.2 percent from a year ago to $145.19 billion, according to MOC spokesperson Shu Jueting.

Non-financial investment into countries along the Belt and Road increased 14.1 percent year-on-year to $20.3 billion during the period, the data showed.

In 2021, China saw 560 newly-signed foreign contracted projects with a value of more than $100 million, 46 more from the previous year, said the ministry. The projects are mainly in the infrastructure sector, such as transportation.

"We also saw fruitful achievements in the building of overseas economic and trade cooperation zones," Shu said.