(Yicai Global) Jan. 25 -- China's actual use of foreign capital last year increased 4 percent from 2019 to USD163 billion, pole-vaulting the country past the US to become the world's largest recipient of foreign capital inflows, according to a recent report by the United Nations trade arm.

China’s share of foreign investment in the world has ballooned to 19 percent, according to the Global Investment Trends Monitor Report the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development released yesterday, China Central Television reported.

Foreign direct investment inflows into the UK, Italy, Russia, Germany, Brazil and the US dropped sharply last year, the report noted. FDI into the US slowed 49 percent to USD134 billion, while that to the UK fell from USD45 billion in 2019 to minus USD1.3 billion last year, it said.

Foreign capital streams into China have been growing steadily over the years. The country’s economy was the first to resume growth after the Covid-19 outbreak, and it thus became a magnet for foreign investment, said Zhan Xiaoning, the UNCTAD's director of Investment and Enterprise. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the EU-China Comprehensive Investment Agreement have also boosted investor confidence, he added.

The high dependence of global multinational companies on China's industrial chain has also maintained the stability and expansion of its foreign investment. The further opening of some industries has also unleashed new capital flows. The Chinese government has also taken effective measures to facilitate foreign investment, helping stabilize it, Zhan added.

China lured even more FDI last year, with the total hitting a new high of nearly CNY1 trillion (USD154.5 billion), up 6.2 percent from the year before, the Ministry of Commerce announced on Jan. 20.

Editor: Ben Armour, Xiao Yi