BEIJING, Aug. 17 -- China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) increased 18.1 percent year on year to 500.94 billion yuan in the first seven months of the year, official data showed Thursday.

In U.S. dollar terms, the ODI stood at 71.93 billion U.S. dollars in the period, up 10.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The non-financial ODI in countries along the Belt and Road came in at 13.69 billion dollars, up 15.3 percent year on year.

The turnover of contracted projects overseas expanded 6.3 percent year on year to 563.76 billion yuan, while the contract value of newly-signed projects amounted to 746.36 billion yuan, up 0.6 percent from a year earlier.