BEIJING — China’s nonfinancial outbound direct investment (ODI) maintained stable growth in the first four months this year, official data showed on May 16.

Nonfinancial ODI in 2,608 companies in 148 countries and regions amounted to 233.41 billion yuan ($34.64 billion) in the January-April period, up 3.3 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Commerce said.

During the period, Chinese companies made a total of $4.61 billion of investment into 50 countries along the Belt and Road, accounting for 13.3 percent of the total.

The structure of outbound investment continued to improve, with investment mainly going into sectors including leasing and business services, manufacturing and retail.

No new projects were reported in sectors such as real estate, sports and entertainment, the ministry said.