BEIJING, China - Foreign direct investments (FDI) in China fell 3.7% in 2012 to $111.72 billion, the government said on Wednesday, January 16.

For the month of December FDI also declined, slipping 4.5% from the same month in 2011 to $11.7 billion, the commerce ministry said.

Investment from the European Union declined 3.8% to $6.11 billion, the ministry said.

But investment from the US rose 4.5% to $3.12 billion, the ministry said, while investment from Japan increased 16.3% to $7.38 billion.

"The growth momentum of investment from some developed countries including the United States and Japan was good," the ministry said in a statement.

Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang also said in a statement that in 2012, Chinese directly invested $77.22 billion overseas, an increase of 28.6% from the year before. - Agence France-Presse