The actual use of foreign capital in the first two months of this year increased by 73.8% year-on-year——
Why are high-tech industries favored by foreign capital?
Our reporter Feng Qiyu
According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce recently, in the first two months of this year, the actual use of foreign capital across the country increased by 37.9% year-on-year.
The growth rate of the high-tech industry was particularly prominent, with the actual use of foreign capital increasing by 73.8% year-on-year, of which the high-tech manufacturing industry grew by 69.2% and the high-tech service industry by 74.9%.
Utilization of foreign capital remains stable
In recent years, due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and the adjustment of the layout of the industrial chain and supply chain, global cross-border investment has fluctuated greatly.
However, China's utilization of foreign capital has always maintained a steady growth.
Total global foreign direct investment (FDI) rebounded strongly last year, up 77% from 2020.
In 2020, my country's foreign investment reached a record high of US$173.48 billion, and the total FDI inflow to my country increased by about 20% compared with 2020.
"It should be noted that in the context of abundant global liquidity, foreign capital also hopes to find more favorable investment places." said Sang Baichuan, dean of the Institute of International Economics at the University of International Business and Economics.
"Since this year, the actual use of foreign capital in my country's high-tech industries has continued to maintain high growth, which further highlights that my country is still one of the important destinations for global investment." Liu Xiangdong, deputy director of the Economic Research Department of the China International Economic Exchange Center, said that in the face of complex and severe international In the first two months of this year, my country's economic recovery has been improving, and positive changes have increased significantly.
Renminbi assets have become a safe haven for global investors, giving them the confidence to continue investing in China to obtain stable returns.
Experts believe that high-tech industries are favored by foreign capital mainly because the fundamentals of my country's long-term economic improvement have not changed, the characteristics of economic development with good resilience, sufficient potential and large space have not changed, and the trend of stable economic recovery and transformation and upgrading has not changed. The favorable conditions for building a new development pattern and promoting high-quality development have not changed.
my country has promulgated regulations and policies such as the "Catalogue of Industries Encouraged for Foreign Investment", and local governments have also played an important role in the optimization of investment structure and supporting policies.
At present, my country continues to relax market access, reduce the negative list for foreign investment access, improve the pre-establishment national treatment plus negative list management system, promote the all-round opening of agriculture and manufacturing, and orderly expand the opening of service industries such as telecommunications and medical care.
Expand the scope of encouraging foreign investment, improve the quality and level of foreign investment utilization, improve the foreign investment service system, and create a market-oriented, law-based, international business environment.
"China will further expand its high-level opening to the outside world, and welcomes investors from all over the world to invest in China," said Gao Feng, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce.
Prospects for economic transformation are promising
The continuous flow of foreign capital to high-tech industries "indicates that my country's investment structure has been optimized and the quality of investment has improved." Zhao Beiwen, deputy director of the Institute of World Economics, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, believes that in the introduction of manufacturing investment, more attention is paid to the introduction of high-tech industries, and the growth of investment is fast.
According to reports, in recent years, my country's industrial transformation and upgrading have achieved remarkable results, the economic structure has been continuously optimized, and the innovation-driven trend is obvious. High-tech manufacturing has become an important force leading industrial transformation and high-quality development.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in the first two months of this year, the added value of high-tech manufacturing above designated size increased by 14.4% year-on-year, and investment in high-tech manufacturing increased by 42.7%, significantly faster than the overall manufacturing production and investment growth.
The high-tech service industry also achieved rapid growth.
In the first two months, the production index of information transmission, software and information technology services increased by 16.3% year-on-year, significantly faster than the production index of all services.
"This is on the basis of last year's high base growth, and continued to maintain rapid growth." Fu Linghui, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics, analyzed.
"In the first two months, the growth rate of foreign investment in high-tech industries has increased rapidly, which is closely related to the accelerated transformation and upgrading of my country's economic structure." Sang Baichuan said that in the process of China's high-quality development, important progress has been made in innovation and development. The society has formed a joint force of innovation-driven development.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, my country's scientific and technological development has accelerated, the national innovation system has become more complete, and the innovation capability has been greatly improved, providing a strong driving force for promoting high-level opening to the outside world.
"Multinational companies are also optimistic about the prospect of China's economic transformation and upgrading, and thus increase their investment in high-tech industries. They hope to grow together with Chinese enterprises to share the dividends of China's economic transformation and upgrading." Sang Baichuan said.
"Under the condition that policies are in place and continuity is maintained, foreign investment in high-tech industries will continue to expand and maintain relatively high growth, thereby boosting the high-quality development of my country's economy." Liu Xiangdong believes.
Innovation and optimization of investment structure
This year's "Government Work Report" proposes to further implement the negative list for foreign investment access, and to effectively implement the national treatment of foreign-funded enterprises.
Expand the scope of encouraging foreign investment, and support foreign investment to increase investment in mid-to-high-end manufacturing, R&D, modern services and other fields, as well as in the central, western, and northeastern regions.
In recent years, the ability of my country's service industry to attract foreign investment has been greatly enhanced, which is in line with the direction of China's overall economic development.
In general, in the process of China's economic restructuring and upgrading, the proportion of the service industry is increasing, and the expansion rate of the manufacturing industry is gradually slowing down. The stage of extensive manufacturing expansion in the past has ended, and investment opportunities are also changing. .
On the other hand, the tendency of manufacturing and service industries to merge is becoming more and more obvious.
More and more multinational companies put their regional headquarters and R&D centers in China, including many manufacturing companies.
Many of the investment in the service industry are for mid-to-high-end manufacturing.
At the same time, with the acceleration of the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, more and more manufacturing enterprises are outsourcing logistics, accounting, law, transportation and other links to realize the servitization of the manufacturing industry.
The new hotspot of manufacturing investment will rely more on innovation, and the mode of attracting investment will also need to be adjusted.
my country is moving from a manufacturing power to a manufacturing power, strengthening support for attracting foreign investment in the manufacturing industry.
Not long ago, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other 10 departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Orderly Transfer of Manufacturing Industry", hoping to optimize the spatial distribution of productivity, promote coordinated regional development, and expand new space for the development of manufacturing industries, which will also create new opportunities for the central and western regions. The new growth pole for attracting capital provides favorable conditions.
Zhang Fei, deputy director of the Foreign Investment Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute, said that to increase the scale and proportion of foreign investment in the manufacturing industry, one is to target existing foreign-invested manufacturing enterprises and encourage them to expand investment or convert profits into reinvestment.
The second is to urge local investment departments to actively implement the requirements on the use of foreign capital in the manufacturing industry in the "Catalogue of Industries Encouraged for Foreign Investment".
The third is to give full play to the platform role of national economic and technological development zones, strengthen services for foreign-funded manufacturing enterprises, and create a better operating environment.
In addition, it is necessary to actively coordinate and solve the obstacles in the opening of the manufacturing industry and the utilization of foreign capital, especially to promote the resolution of the problems and difficulties encountered by the foreign enterprise business associations in the operation of foreign-funded manufacturing industries in China.
Feng Qiyu