BEIJING -- China attracted $86.68 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first nine months of the year, up 16.6 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Wednesday.

In September alone, the country drew 9.05 billion yuan of actual FDI, up 7.88 percent from a year earlier, said MOC spokesman Shen Danyang.

The September figure indicated continuous growth decline in FDI, slowing from 11.1 percent in August and 19.83 percent in July.

FDI from the United States declined 9.88 percent year-on-year to $1.88 billion in the January-September period, while that from the European Union was down 1.8 percent over a year ago, Shen said.

He said the country approved the establishment of 20,400 overseas-funded companies in the first nine months, a year-on-year increase of 6.24 percent.

The country's outbound direct investment excludes that in the financial sector rose 12.5 percent year-on-year to $40.75 billion in the first three quarters, he said.