BEIJING, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Foreign direct investment into China is likely to pass $100 billion this year for the first time, official media said on Monday.
Non-financial FDI hit a record $92.4 billion in 2008 but fell to $90 billion in 2009 after the global financial crisis.
Foreign investors are upbeat about China's economic outlook and Beijing's efforts to improve the investment environment have boosted their confidence, the official Xinhua news agency quoted Shen Danyang, a spokesman for the commerce ministry, as saying.
China drew $58.4 billion in FDI in the first seven months of the year, up 20.7 percent from the same period of 2009.
Another official, Liu Zuozhuang, said China's outbound investments this year were likely to reach $60 billion.
The officials were speaking at a news briefing on Sunday.
In 2009, Chinese companies' outbound direct investment was worth $56.5 billion, an increase of 1.1 percent from 2008.
"China is now the fifth largest investing nation worldwide, and the largest among developing nations," said Shen, according to the China Daily.
He said the flow would rise further in coming years.
Despite intense interest in China's ties with Africa and other distant developing markets, 71.4 percent of Chinese outbound investment was within Asia in 2009.
Africa accounted for 2.6 percent and Latin America 13.0 percent, said the Ministry of Commerce, according to the China Daily. (Reporting by Langi Chiang and Chris Buckley; Editing by Ken Wills)