China: Foreign investment at four-year low as competition regulation questioned

As critics of China’s antitrust regime have begun to warn that foreign investment would likely dwindle in the nation, reports say the numbers are already showing such effects.

According to the Financial Times, foreign investment in China is at its lowest level in four years thanks to price-fixing and other antitrust investigations that critics say unfairly target foreign companies.

Reports added that investment in the nation dropped to $7.2 billion in August, its lowest level since July 2010. The paper calculated the data itself.

Further, the Financial Times found, investment dropped 14 percent from the same month last year.

According to reports, this is also the first time foreign direct investment fell by more than 10 percent for two months in a row since the 2009 global financial crisis.

Lobbyists, consumer advocated and government representatives have heightened their criticism of Chinese competition policy, arguing that recent investigations into companies like Qualcomm, Microsoft, Chrysler and Audi give the impression that China is unfairly targeting foreign companies to promote its own domestic businesses.

Full content: IR Magazine

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