Actual use of foreign investment in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province saw steady growth in the first half of this year despite the COVID-19 epidemic, statistics show. 

From January to June, actual utilized foreign capital reached $1.524 billion, representing a yearly uptick of 1.8 percent, the municipal department of commerce said. The figure accounted for 63.5 percent of the city's annual target. 

The growth indicates Ningbo is still attractive to investors despite the fact that transnational direct investment has been weakened globally since the beginning of this year, said a head official from the Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Commerce. 

As of the end of June, 67 foreign Fortune 500 enterprises have set up 147 branches in Ningbo. 

Statistics show that a total of 216 foreign-funded enterprises were set up in the city over the six-month period, with a cumulative value of $6.64 billion, a year-on-year jump of 55.5 percent. 

The new foreign-funded enterprises are from countries including the US, Germany, Japan and Singapore, the department said.

Investment from the top 10 countries and regions amounted to $1.503 billion, making up 98.6 percent of the total over the period. The majority of investment from overseas was in sectors such as automobile manufacturing, chemical raw material manufacturing, and more.