Chinese investment in West Asian countries surged 65.2% last year and was mainly focused on the energy sector, according to a report on the development of the Middle East released by a leading Chinese institute.
The Institute of West-Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences issued the report, which said the sharply increasing investment was due to three key factors: China’s strong demand for energy resources; growing income in most West Asian countries and the increasing need for infrastructure, Xinhua quoted the China Daily as saying Saturday.
Chinese investment in West Asian countries and the Middle East, which are the main energy providers, will continue to rise along China’s demand for energy, said the report.
The growing economies in the West Asian countries have a huge demand for industrial development and household consumption products and China is coming in to fill it. Chinese contractors are also entering these countries where there is a massive market for upgrading infrastructure, the report added.
In addition, the report said that Sino-Egyptian cooperation, especially in the labor-intensive manufacturing sector, would help increase job growth in Egypt.
Meanwhile, Chinese corporations and investors have been hunting overseas for bigger profits, and they’re finding them in the United States.
This is not a new trend. Some $50 billion of foreign direct investment has fled China since 2010, spanning several US industries. But the pace picked up considerably this year.
In just the first six months of 2015, Chinese companies poured a massive $6.4 billion into US investments–a record half-year high. And 80% of the $17 billion that China’s state-owned enterprises have invested in the United States since 2010 came this year alone.
