BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) — Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland maintained steady growth in 2015 despite the economic slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.

FDI, which excludes investment in the financial sector, rose 6.4 percent year on year to 126.27 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Thursday.

Investment in the country’s burgeoning service industry continued robust growth, accounting for 61.1 percent of total flows during the period.

FDI in the manufacturing sector came in at 39.54 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 31.4 percent of the total. Flow to high-tech manufacturing gained 9.5 percent to 9.41 billion U.S. dollars.

The MOC attributed the growth to the government cutting red tape around investment approvals and accelerating construction of free trade zones.

Foreign mergers and acquisitions in China increased sharply, with their share of total FDI surging from 6.3 percent in 2014 to 14.1 percent in 2015.

The Chinese economy expanded 6.9 percent in the first three quarters of 2015, the lowest reading since the second quarter of 2009.

China is due to release annual growth data next Tuesday.  Enditem