A total of 15,802 new foreign-funded enterprises were established in China in the first seven months of this year, a 9.7 percent-increase from the previous year, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua reported on Friday.

China’s Ministry of Commerce – quoted by the media outlet – released the figures together with the latest statistics on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country.

Inflows of FDI in China’s non-financial sectors dropped 1.6 percent from the previous year, to 49.76 billion yuan (US$7.71 billion) in July, according to the news report. But between January and July this year, FDI to China increased by 4.3 percent year-on-year, the Ministry was quoted as saying.

The year-on-year July fall in non-financial sector FDI came as other economic indicators – such as industrial output and retail sales – slowed in July; suggesting signs of “downward pressure in China’s economy,” according to Xinhua. The country’s gross domestic product grew 6.7 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2016, as it did in the previous quarter.