By Dai Yan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-09-13 15:22

Overseas investors set up 24,848 new enterprises in China during the first eight months of 2007, down 5.26 percent year-on-year, while investment value rose 12.79 percent from a year earlier to US$41.95 billion.

In the month of August 3,150 foreign ventures nationwide were approved, down 8.83 percent from a year earlier. Investment value involved totaled US$5.02 billion, an increase of 11.87 percent compared with the same period in 2006.

The number of new US-invested enterprises dropped 15.12 percent, while investment value was up 0.77 percent year-on-year. The European Union posted a 7.65 percent decrease year-on-year in the number of new enterprises, and investment value slipped 33.3 percent.

During the first eight months of the year, investment value of the top 10 countries and regions by investment value in China accounted for 86.55 percent of the total nationwide.

Those regions and countries were Hong Kong (US$14.1 billion), the British Virgin Islands (US$9.91billion), the Republic of Korea (US$2.46 billion), Japan (US$2.25 billion), Singapore (US$1.64 billion), the United States (US$1.63 billion), the Cayman Islands (US$1.51 billion), the Samoan Islands（US$1.12billion), Taiwan Province (US$952 million), and Mauritius (US$753 million).