Foreign direct investment (FDI) into China rose by 23.4 percent year on year in January to 10.03 billion U.S. dollars, said Yao Jian, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, Thursday.

A total of 2,243 new foreign-invested enterprises were approved in January, an increase of 20.2 percent year on year, Yao said.

The services sector received $4.69 billion of FDI, up 31.8 percent from January last year. While FDI inflows in the manufacturing sector rose 18.9 percent to $4.7 billion.

Yao said the growth of FDI into west China was higher than the national average. The western region attracted 510 million U.S. dollars of FDI in January, a year-on-year increase of 81.1 percent.

Investment in the eastern region grew 23 percent year on year to $8.98 billion, while investment in the central region fell 2 percent year on year to $540 million.

(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2011)