From January to November this year, the foreign direct investment (FDI) in Shandong province totaled $19.58 billion, up 28.7 percent year-on-year, 7.3 percentage points higher than the national growth rate, according to statistics from the Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce.

Cargo is loaded onto containerships at Qingdao Port, Shandong province on Dec 3. [Photo by Zhang Jingang/for China Daily]

The province's FDI amount was 74.4 percent higher from the same period in 2019, with a two-year average growth of 32.1 percent.

In the first 11 months, the actual use of foreign investment in the manufacturing industry in Shandong reached $5.98 billion with a year-on-year growth of 103 percent, which has become an important factor driving the rapid growth of foreign investment in the province, said Kong Tao, an official from the Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce.

Paid-in foreign investment in high-tech manufacturing reached $1.23 billion, up 76.7 percent year-on-year, while the actual utilized FDI in electronic and communication equipment manufacturing, computer and office equipment manufacturing and medical instrument manufacturing increased by 490.2 percent, 163.9 percent and 25.9 percent, respectively.

During the same period, the province's major foreign investment sources witnessed rapid growth. China's Hong Kong invested $15.14 billion in Shandong, up 28.2 percent year-on-year.

Singapore invested $1.33 billion in Shandong, which is a year-on-year increase of 50.7 percent. Japan and South Korea invested a total of $1.26 billion, up 49.3 percent. RCEP countries invested $2.75 billion, up 47.5 percent. Countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative invested $1.47 billion, up 56.4 percent.