BEIJING (Reuters) - China drew $8.56 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in February, up 0.9 percent from a year earlier, while outbound Chinese investment excluding the financial sector surged by 68.2 percent to $7.25 billion, the Commerce Ministry said on Tuesday.
FDI into China grew at its strongest pace in nearly four years in January, surging 29.4 percent from a year earlier to $13.9 billion as investors largely shunned the manufacturing sector and focused on the more resilient services industry.
For January and February combined, inbound FDI rose 17.0 percent from a year earlier, to $22.5 billion. Due to distortions caused by the timing of the Lunar New Year holiday this year as compared to last year, economists say the combined figure gives a clearer picture of investment flows than February alone.
Outbound investment for January and February combined rose 51.0 percent to $17.4 billion.
FDI inflows into China rose an annual 1.7 percent in 2014 to $119.6 billion, the slowest pace in two years.
(Reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Jason Subler)