BEIJING — China saw steady foreign investment growth in the first half of 2019, official data showed on July 11.

The actually utilized foreign investment in China rose 7.2 percent from a year ago to reach 478.33 billion yuan during the January-June period, Gao Feng, spokesperson with the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), told a news conference.

In US dollar terms, the amount stood at $70.74 billion, up 3.5 percent year-on-year.

During the same period, a total of 20,131 new foreign-funded enterprises were established.

In June alone, total foreign investment actually utilized climbed 8.5 percent year-on-year to 109.27 billion yuan, MOC data showed.

The reading amounted to a total of $16.13 billion, a 3-percent growth compared to the same period last year.

Banking, securities and insurance sectors were not included in the monthly data, according to the MOC.

FDI into the high-tech sector saw faster expansion, with the sector’s actually utilized FDI rising 44.3 percent year-on-year and accounting for 28.8 percent of the total FDI, Gao said.

The high-tech manufacturing industry drew 50.28 billion yuan, up 13.4 percent year-on-year, with electronics and communications equipment rising 25 percent compared to the same period last year.

Some 87.56 billion yuan flowed into the high-tech service industry, a sharp increase of 71.1 percent year-on-year. FDI in services of information. R&D and design, as well as sci-tech achievement transformation surged by 68.1 percent, 77.7 percent and 62.7 percent, respectively.

FDI actually utilized by western Chinese regions registered rapid growth in the first half, up 21.2 percent year-on-year to hit 34.96 billion yuan, MOC data showed.

The country’s free trade zones saw their actually utilized FDI rise 20.1 percent year-on-year and account for 14.5 percent of the total FDI, Gao said.

Foreign investment from the Republic of Korea and Germany climbed quickly in H1 2019, posting growth of 63.8 percent and 81.3 percent year-on-year, respectively.