China's Outbound Investment Slumped in 2017 as Deals Scrutinized

China’s outbound direct investment recorded the first annual slump since at least 2009, as officials tightened curbs on capital outflows and increased scrutiny on foreign acquisitions.

An employee arranges genuine bundles of Chinese one-hundred yuan banknotes at the Counterfeit Notes Response Center of KEB Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017. China's factory output and investment slowed somewhat in July, according to data released today, yet the yuan appeared not to take the data as negative, if in fact it's paying attention to it at all.Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

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By Bloomberg News

January 16, 2018 at 9:05 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

China’s outbound direct investment recorded the first annual slump since at least 2009, as officials tightened curbs on capital outflows and increased scrutiny on foreign acquisitions.

Non-financial overseas investments plunged 29.4 percent to $120 billion, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement Tuesday. The drop came as policy makers have stepped up scrutiny of the country’s most prolific dealmakers since late 2016, including conglomerates such as HNA Group Co., in an effort to slow offshore takeovers that contributed to a surge in fund outflows and rapid depreciation in the yuan.