China's foreign direct investment (FDI) rose by 18.4 percent year-on-year to 60.89 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of this year, Yao Jian, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Friday.

In June alone, China's FDI rose 2.83 percent from one year earlier to 12.86 billion U.S. dollars, Yao said at a regular press conference.

The growth rate had slowed for three consecutive months, and the June figure was 10.3 percentage points lower than that of May.

China approved 2,919 foreign-invested companies to start business operations in June, up 6.57 percent from the same month last year.

A total of 13,462 foreign firms received approvals to start operations in the first half, up 8.77 percent year-on-year, he said.

Capital inflows from 10 Asian nations and regions, including Japan, Thailand, Singapore, climbed 23.88 percent in the first half to 52.53 billion U.S. dollars, while investment from the European Union rose 1.17 percent to reach 3.46 billion U.S. dollars during the same period.

However, the United States continue to slow its direct investment pace in the world's second-largest economy.

FDI from the U.S. fell 22.32 percent to 1.68 billion U.S. dollars in comparison to the same period last year, Yao said, adding that the U.S. investment in other emerging markets, including Brazil and India, also dropped during the same period.

Furthermore, the growth rate in FDI in China's economically-developed east regions was slower than those in the country's central and western areas during the first half.

East China attracted 51.8 billion U.S. dollars of FDI, up 16.09 percent year-on-year, compared with the 31.78-percent increase in the central regions and 35.18-percent rise in the western areas, Yao said.

Chinese companies invested 23.9 billion U.S. dollars in non-financial sectors in 117 countries and regions during the first half, up 34 percent year-on-year.

About 9 billion U.S. dollars, or 37.7 percent of China's total outbound direct investments, were channeled into company mergers over the same period, he said.