Non-financial outbound direct investment from the Mainland has reached US$145.96 for the first 10 months of the year, Xinhua reports.

Data from the Ministry of Commerce, published by the state-run news agency, says non-financial ODI was 53.3 percent higher in the first 10 months of this year compared to the same time last year. Last month’s ODI figure was 48.4 percent higher than at the same time in 2015.

The report says Mainland companies have signed more than US$84 billion in construction contracts as part of the One Belt, One Road initiative so far this year, which is about one-third higher in year-on-year terms.

One Belt, One Road was proposed in 2013 by President Xi Jinping as an infrastructure development to better connect economies across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.