Pedestrians walk past hoardings of foreign banks in Shanghai. FDI into the manufacturing sector has been waning in the first seven months, whereas it has been rising in the services sector. [Yan Daming/China Daily]

BEIJING - Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland fell 1 percent year on year to $8.9 billion in May, the Ministry of Commerce said Sunday.

This compared with a 6 percent increase registered in April.

For the first five months, FDI, which excludes investment in the financial sector, rose 3.8 percent year on year to $54.2 billion, with the growth decelerating from the 4.8 percent registered in the January-April period, the ministry said.

The service sector attracted $38.2 billion of FDI in the five months, 70.4 percent of the total and 7 percent higher than the same period last year.

FDI into the manufacturing sector declined 3.2 percent during the period to $15.5 billion, accounting for 28.8 percent of the total.

Among the ten major investors, FDI from the United States surged 140.2 percent year on year in the first five months while that from Britain soared 110 percent.

Investment from countries relating to the Belt and Road Initiative was up 1.3 percent to $3.1 billion during the period.