In 2021, the non-financial direct investment of Chinese companies in Belt and Road participating countries reached RMB130.97 billion, growing by 6.7% year-on-year (USD20.3 billion, up 14.1%). This sum accounted for 17.9% of their total outbound investment over the same period, up 1.7 percentage points from the previous year. Major investment destinations include Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, the UAE, Laos, Thailand, Kazakhstan, and Cambodia.

In terms of international construction contracting, China signed 6,257 new construction contracts with 60 BRI participating countries. Their worth, RMB864.76 billion, decreased by 11.4% (USD134.04 billion, down 5.2%) year-on-year, accounting for 51.9% of the total of China’s new international construction contracts of the same period. The value of performed work was RMB578.57 billion, down 5.2% (USD89.68 billion, down 1.6%) year-on-year and accounting for 57.9% of China’s total amount over the same period.