BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) in 47 countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative rose 8.1 percent year on year to 1.33 billion U.S. dollars in January this year, data showed Thursday.

China's non-financial ODI in 973 overseas companies in 137 countries and regions stood at 9.19 billion U.S. dollars last month, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said in a statement.

Compared with 10.8 billion U.S. dollars registered in January 2018, Gao Feng, the MOC spokesperson, said the decline was due to various reasons, including a forecast of slowed global economic growth this year and enhanced security checks from certain countries and regions.

In addition, a number of accidental factor also exists, Gao said, adding that ODI in mining last month dropped 85.3 percent year on year.

"Generally speaking, China's ODI in January improved in quality and profits though the scale declined," Gao told a press conference.

January's data also showed the structure of outbound investment continued to improve, with investment mainly going into leasing and business services, manufacturing, retail and wholesale, and construction sectors. The irrational tendency in outbound investment has been contained, according to the MOC.

Last month, Chinese companies completed 30 cross-border mergers and acquisitions projects in 18 countries and regions, mostly in the sectors of manufacturing, leasing, business services, information transmission and software, the MOC said.