BEIJING -- China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) reached 459.71 billion yuan in the first eight months of the year, down 4.3 percent year on year, according to official data released Thursday.

In US dollar terms, the period's ODI rose 3.7 percent from a year ago to $71.02 billion, the Ministry of Commerce said.

In the January-August period, non-financial direct investment into countries along the Belt and Road increased 9.2 percent year on year to $12.89 billion, accounting for 18.1 percent of total non-financial ODI, data from the ministry shows.

Outbound investments in multiple fields continued to grow during the same period. Investment into wholesale and retail went up 13.5 percent from a year earlier to $11.42 billion, while investment into services related to information transmission, software and information technology jumped 33.2 percent to reach $5.4 billion.

The non-financial ODI from the country's local enterprises rose 11.9 percent from a year earlier, accounting for 77.6 percent of the total non-financial ODI during the period, according to the ministry.