FDI in China down for sixth month in April

[BEIJING] Foreign direct investment in China fell for a sixth month in April, the longest stretch of declines since the global financial crisis, amid renewed turmoil in financial markets.

Inbound investment dropped 0.7 per cent from a year earlier to US$8.4 billion, the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday in Beijing. That compares with a 6.1 per cent drop in March.

Yesterday's data underscore the risk of a deeper slowdown in China after April export and import gains missed estimates and industrial output growth was the slowest since 2009. China cut banks' reserve requirements last week to spur lending and arrest the deterioration, with UBS AG and Bank of America Corp lowering their second-quarter and full-year growth estimates.

"Trade data was bad, production data last week was bad, and this time FDI is also pointing to the same direction," Zhang Zhiwei, chief China economist with Nomura Holdings Inc in Hong Kong, said yesterday. The reports show a "very weak economy at this moment", with chances of an interest rate cut rising though "still below 50 per cent", Mr Zhang said.

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