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BEIJING, May 27 (Xinhua) -- China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) dropped 70.8 percent year on year to 5.83 billion U.S. dollars in April, official data showed Saturday.

In the first four months of this year, the country's non-financial ODI declined 56.1 percent year on year to 26.37 billion U.S. dollars, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Chinese companies invested in 2,583 overseas enterprises in 137countries and regions from January to April, according to a statement posted on the MOC website.

Commercial service, manufacturing and information transmission as well as software and information technology industries took the lead in investment value.

Outbound investment to countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative accounted for 15.1 percent of the total ODI in the first four months, up 6.9 percentage points from the same period of 2016.

China's direct investment to Africa increased 25.3 percent year on year during the January-April period of this year.

In the four months, engineering contracts totaling 61.81 billion U.S. dollars were signed by Chinese companies with overseas partners, up 4.9 percent year on year.

Over half of the contract value came from 1,862 new overseas contracted engineering projects signed with 61 countries along the Belt and Road.