BEIJING — China’s nonfinancial outbound direct investment (ODI) maintained healthy growth in the first five months of this year, official data showed on June 13.

Nonfinancial ODI in 3,115 companies from 149 countries and regions amounted to 301.15 billion yuan (about $44.54 billion) in the January-May period, down 1 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Commerce said.

During the period, Chinese companies made a total of $5.63 billion of investment into 51 countries along the Belt and Road, accounting for 12.6 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 as well as information and technology.

Major overseas projects, bringing mutual benefit, promoted growth in local areas. Newly signed overseas projects with contract value of over $50 million came in at 287 in the first five months, the ministry said.