China's ODI sees small dip in Q1

China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) dropped 0.6 percent year-on-year to 169.03 billion yuan ($24.22 billion) in the first quarter of 2020, the Ministry of Commerce announced on Tuesday.

In the meantime, Chinese firms invested in 2,538 businesses in 153 countries and regions, sending 64,000 personnel abroad to support their projects and operations, the ministry said in an online statement.

Chinese companies invested $4.2 billion in 52 economies related to the Belt and Road Initiative in the first three months of 2020, surging 11.7 percent on a yearly basis and accounting for 17.3 percent of the country's total ODI during the three-month period.

The ministry said the structure of China's ODI continued to diversify between January and March of this year, with investment mainly flowing into such sectors as leasing and business services, and wholesale and retail, as well as manufacturing and mining businesses in the global markets.

Chinese companies signed 187 project deals with contract value of more than $50 million in the first quarter of 2020. The total value for these projects reached $45.74 billion, according to the ministry.