China’s non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) grew to US$15.31 billion (118.78 billion MOP) last month, 13.4 percent more than a year earlier, Xinhua reports.

The Chinese government-run news agency says data from the Ministry of Commerce show the country’s non-financial ODI in the first eight months of this year increased to US$118.06 billion, or 53.3 percent more than in the equivalent period in 2015.

Xinhua quotes the ministry saying the policy that China calls the One Belt, One Road initiative has increased co-operation between Chinese and foreign firms.

The ministry said that in the first eight months Chinese companies had entered into about 4,000 engineering contracts, together worth US$69.82 billion, in 61 countries in parts of the world covered by the initiative, Xinhua reports.

The initiative is meant to enhance the economies of Asian, European and African economies that China trades with, or that Chinese imports and exports pass through, by improving their infrastructure.