China FDI tops US$50b, seen higher in 2003

BEIJING: Foreign firms invested a record US$52.7bil in China in 2002 and may pour in even more this year, lured by cheap labour and an economy that has defied a global slowdown, economists said yesterday. 

Actual foreign direct investment (FDI) in China rose an annual 12.5% in 2002 as foreign companies flocked to Asia’s second largest economy, drawn by lower costs for making goods for export and hopes that the nation would open its potentially vast market wider.