This aerial photo shows a cargo ship at a smart container terminal of Tianjin Port in North China's Tianjin, July 7, 2023. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

BEIJING - China's non-financial outbound direct investment increased 18.8 percent year-on-year to 585.61 billion yuan in the first eight months of the year, official data showed Thursday.

In US dollar terms, the ODI stood at $83.73 billion in the period, up 11.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

READ MORE: China's non-financial ODI up 26.6% in Jan-April

The non-financial ODI in Belt and Road partner countries came in at 20.07 billion US dollars in the first eight months of 2023, up 14.9 percent year-on-year.

The turnover of contracted projects overseas grew 6.1 percent year on year to 648.62 billion yuan, while the contract value of newly-signed projects amounted to 863.34 billion yuan, up 2 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said.