BIZCHINA / Center
FDI rises 12% to US$15.9b
(Bloomberg)
Updated: 2007-04-12 14:39
Foreign direct investment in China rose 12 percent to $15.9 billion in
the first quarter as the attractions of low manufacturing costs and the
world's biggest pool of consumers outweighed pending tax increases.
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The Ministry of Commerce gave the figures on its Web site. At that pace,
investment may match or top last year's record of $63 billion.
Higher taxes for foreign companies will be phased in over five years from
January. That hasn't deterred Anheuser-Busch Cos., the world's
second-biggest brewer, from expanding its manufacturing operations to try
to sell more Budweiser and Harbin beer in China. Disposable incomes are
rising more than 10 percent a year in the country of 1.3 billion people.
Foreign companies increasingly view China "as a market, instead of just a
production base," Ha Jiming, chief economist at China International
Capital Corp., an investment bank, said in Beijing. "They're attracted by
rising purchasing power."
China's economy last year grew 10.7 percent, the fastest pace in 11
years. Foreign direct investment rose 4.5 percent, helping to boost the
country's currency reserves to a world record $1 trillion.
New York-based PepsiCo Inc., the world's second-largest soft-drink maker,
and its partners plan to double their China workforce to 30,000 people
over five years, chief executive officer Indra Nooyi said last week.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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