BEIJING — Foreign investor confidence in China's prospects continues to strengthen as the economy maintains restorative growth momentum, which drove up investment inflow in the first two months of the year, a Ministry of Commerce (MOC) spokesperson said on March 18.

In particular, foreign investment in high-tech industries registered notable growth as China accelerates its construction of a new development paradigm, said spokesperson Gao Feng. The new development paradigm refers to "dual circulation", in which domestic and overseas markets reinforce each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay.

He said that industries hit hard by the COVID-19 epidemic last year, including the hotel and catering sectors as well as wholesale and retail trade, saw a quick rebound.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 31.5 percent year-on-year to 176.76 billion yuan in the first two months, earlier MOC data showed.

In US dollar terms, inflow rose 34.2 percent year-on-year to $26.07 billion.

Foreign investment in the services industry came in at 141.74 billion yuan ($21.78 billion) during the period, up 48.7 percent year-on-year.

FDI in the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 6.2 percent year-on-year to a record high of 999.98 billion yuan in 2020.