This aerial photo taken on Aug. 6, 2023 shows a housing project undertaken by Chinese enterprises in Ahmadi Governorate, Kuwait. (Photo by Gong Lingyu/Xinhua)

China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) increased 18.8 percent year on year to 585.61 billion yuan in the first eight months of the year, official data showed Thursday.

In U.S. dollar terms, the ODI stood at 83.73 billion U.S. dollars in the period, up 11.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The non-financial ODI in Belt and Road partner countries came in at 20.07 billion U.S. dollars in the first eight months of 2023, up 14.9 percent year on year.

The turnover of contracted projects overseas grew 6.1 percent year on year to 648.62 billion yuan, while the contract value of newly-signed projects amounted to 863.34 billion yuan, up 2 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said.