foreign investment

Foreign-invested enterprises have generally given China's business environment high marks, including sound infrastructure, impartial market competition conditions and largely satisfactory macroeconomic and regulatory policies, a report released by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) said on Monday.

According to the report, in the first quarter of 2022, 71 percent of foreign companies surveyed have maintained their business scale, with 16.4 percent of them expanding their business scale, compared with the fourth quarter of 2021.

Foreign companies continue to be optimistic about their development prospects in China, with 13.5 percent of the surveyed firms intending to increase investment in China in the future. And 42.6 percent of foreign-funded companies regard the Yangtze River Delta as the main region for more investment.

But, China's stable foreign investment is still facing pressures from external challenges and internal constraints, Yu Yi, a spokesperson from the CCPIT said during a regular press conference on Monday.

In February, the global economic and trade friction index stood at 239, up 116 points compared to January 2022, indicating that global economic and trade frictions are likely to rise.

The top five countries within the index are India, EU, US, South Africa and Brazil. China's friction index remains at a low level, coming in at 15th.

According to the report, surveyed foreign enterprises said that the authorities should coordinate epidemic prevention and control measures with economic and social development, creating more fair competition environment to enhance the confidence of foreign enterprises. Moreover, the government should continue to promote cross-border trade, as well as strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights.

Yu noted the CCPIT has set up a special group to serve foreign-funded enterprises, in order to timely know the demands of foreign-funded enterprises.

Global Times