China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) realized healthy and steady growth in the first 11 months this year, hitting 104.48 billion U.S. dollars, data released by the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) showed on Friday.

(File photo: VCG)

From January to November, Chinese companies have invested in 5,213 overseas enterprises in 157 countries and regions around the world.

Chinese enterprises signed new overseas project contracts worth 185.31 billion U.S. dollars during this period. Among them, there are 47 more projects of or above 50 million U.S. dollars than the year before.

"The newly contracted projects can create 823,000 jobs for local people. They are mainly in the transportation and power industries, which accounted for 49.2 percent of the total. These projects can greatly improve local people's livelihood and infrastructure," said Han Yong, a commercial counselor with the Department of Outbound Investment and Economic Cooperation under the MOFCOM.

China's ODI to Belt and Road countries also saw steady growth. In the first 11 months, Chinese companies made new investments in 56 Belt and Road countries, totaling 12.96 billion U.S. dollars, a 4.8-percent increase year-on-year.

Also during this period, China's ODI mainly went to leasing and commercial services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and mining sectors, with no new projects in the fields of property, sports or entertainment.

This shows the continuous optimization of China's foreign investment structure and an effective curb on irrational outbound investment.