BEIJING, May 17 -- Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 2.2 percent year on year to 499.46 billion yuan in the first four months of the year, the Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday.

In U.S. dollar terms, the FDI inflow went down 3.3 percent year on year to 73.5 billion U.S. dollars.

The manufacturing industry saw FDI inflow increase by 4.1 percent year on year to 130.05 billion yuan during the first four months, while that of hi-tech industries increased by 12.8 percent during the period, data from the ministry showed.

Specifically, foreign investment in high-tech manufacturing jumped by 37.1 percent, while that in the high-tech service sector rose 6 percent.

During the January-April period, investment from France and the United Kingdom surged 567.3 percent and 323.7 percent year on year, respectively. FDI from Japan and the Republic of Korea climbed 68.1 percent and 30.7 percent, respectively, year on year.