BEIJING — China remained the world's second-largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2019 with FDI inflow up 5.8 percent year-on-year to 941.5 billion yuan ($137.24 billion) in 2019, the Ministry of Commerce said on Jan 21.

More than 40,000 new foreign-funded enterprises were established last year, said Qian Keming, vice minister of commerce, at a press conference.

The number of projects receiving FDI above $100 million stood at 834 in 2019, up 15.8 percent from a year earlier.

The structure of FDI has been optimizing as 266 billion yuan of FDI went to the high-tech sector in 2019, up 25.6 percent year-on-year, accounting for 28.3 percent of the total FDI.

Investment from Singapore climbed 51.1 percent year-on-year in 2019, that from the Netherlands expanded 43.1 percent and that from the Republic of Korea rose 21.7 percent.

Pilot free trade zones (FTZs) have played a larger role in attracting investment.

All of the 18 pilot FTZs saw 6,242 new foreign-funded enterprises set up in 2019. FDI inflows into the pilot FTZs reach 143.6 billion yuan, accounting for 15 percent of the total.