A Chinese official said Wednesday the actual overseas investment in China is expected to exceed 60 billion US dollars this year, compared with 53 billion US dollars in the previous year.

Liao Xiaoqi, vice-minister of commerce, said the actual foreign direct investment (FDI) in China during the first eight months of this year totaled 43.559 billion US dollars, up 18.77 percent from last year.

According to the estimate by an official with the Department of Overseas Investment of the ministry, the figure for the whole year will exceed 60 billion US dollars if the inflow of overseas investment continues at the same speed.

Addressing the opening ceremony at the World Investment Report 2004 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the vice-minister said the measures China has taken to regulate its economy will not hinder foreign investment in the country.

The measures China has taken will ensure the economy to grow in a sustainable way. The healthy growth of Chinese economy means bigger opportunities for overseas investors.

Overseas firms in China accounted for 55 percent of China's total exports in 2003, one-third of the country's output value in the manufacturing sector, and one-fifth of the country's tax revenues, according to official statistics.

According to figures released by Chinese Ministry of Commerce last week, there have been 494,025 foreign-funded companies set up in China with a total contracted FDI of more than one trillion US dollars.

The total actual FDI reached 545.029 billion US dollars, covering about 10 percent of China's total asset investment. The volume of export and import by foreign-funded enterprises accounted for more than half of the total, according to the ministry.