BEIJING, April 19 -- China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) came in at 242.92 billion yuan (about 34.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of this year, up 12.5 percent year on year, official data showed on Friday.

The investment in members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and European Union saw rapid growth, jumping 36.7 percent and 34.5 percent from the same period a year earlier, respectively, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The non-financial outbound investment in countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative reached 54.32 billion yuan, increasing 12 percent year on year and accounting for 22.4 percent of the total ODI in the January-March period.

In the first three months, ODI in leasing and business services surged 45.5 percent year on year, while that in manufacturing saw a rapid increase of 36.4 percent, the data revealed.

The turnover of contracted projects overseas rose 6.1 percent year on year to 230.13 billion yuan.