The amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) China received rose for the third consecutive month in October, up 5.7 percent year on year to US$7.1 billion, said Yao Jian, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce on Monday.

In October, China attracted US$7.1 billion in FDI, compared with more than US$6.7 billion in October 2008, said Yao Jian, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce.

China has approved the establishment 18,163 overseas-funded enterprises in the first 10 months this year, down 20 percent from the same period last year. It approved 1,815 such enterprises in October.

The FDI actually used nationwide in the first 10 months amounted to US$70.87 billion, down 12.6 percent from the same period of 2008.

Yao said China's manufacturing sector actually used 12.5 percent less FDI in the first 10 months than a year earlier, and the reading for the service sector was down 14.5 percent, without giving absolute numbers.

China saw investment inflows down for 10 straight months from October last year to July due to the global economic slowdown.

(Xinhua News Agency November 16, 2009)