China's FDI Drop Again in Dec.

BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Foreign direct investment (FDI) into China dropped 4.5 percent year on year in December, the seventh consecutive monthly decline since June, according to data released on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Commerce said at a monthly news conference that the country used 11.7 billion U.S. dollars of overseas investment last month.

The pace of decline slowed from 5.4 percent in November. In 2012, the monthly FDI figures dropped 11 times year on year, with a slight increase only in May.

Total FDI into the country in 2012 declined 3.7 percent from one year earlier to 111.72 billion U.S. dollars, according to ministry spokesman Shen Danyang.

Last year, FDI from the United States increased 4.5 percent year on year to 3.13 billion U.S. dollars, while that from Japan surged 16.3 percent to 7.38 billion U.S. dollars.

However, FDI from the eurozone fell 3.8 percent to 6.11 billion U.S. dollars, Shen said.