In the first half of the year, China's foreign direct investment (FDI) dropped by 17.9 percent to 43 billion U.S. dollars, and newly approved foreign companies totaled 10,419, declined 28.4%, and joint venture investment amounted 83.73 billion USD, down 25.1%, the Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday at a regular news conference.

Since October 2008, China's FDI has declined for 9 straight months, with 6 of with declined at double digits.  Joint venture investment had slide down for 7 months.  June is the first month that joint venture investment showed positive growth and FDI showed narrowed decline.  The FDI drop was 17.8 percent in May.

Foreign direct investment last year rose 23.6 percent $92.4 billion in 2008 from the previous year, though growth began to weaken toward the end of the year.